Shamarh Brooks replaces Shimron Hetmyer in West Indies' World Cup squad 

Shamarh Brooks (PC: Twitter)

Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Tuesday (October 4) announced that Shamarh Brooks will replace Shimron Hetmyer in the West Indies Squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.

According to CWI, the decision was made after the board didn't receive any updates on the delayed departure of Hetmyer which forced the cricketing body to replace him with Brooks.

CWI's director of cricket confirmed that Brooks will be travelling to Australia for the showpiece event starting later this month.

What Jimmy Adams said

“This afternoon we informed the CWI Board of Directors that the Selection Panel had unanimously decided to replace Shimron Hetmyer with Shamarh Brooks in our T20 World Cup squad. Whilst we changed Shimron’s flight from Saturday to Monday due to family reasons, it was made clear to Mr. Hetmyer and his agent by both the President and CEO, that if there were any further issues with Mr. Hetmyer travelling to Australia then we would have no choice but to replace him in the squad, as we are not prepared to compromise the team’s ability to prepare for this extremely important global event.

 “Shamarh (Brooks) has been a part of our recent T20 International squads and delivered strong performances in the latter stages of the recently concluded CPL. He will fly out as soon as possible this week to Australia and I wish him and all the squad all the very best for the Tournament.”

This comes as a huge blow to the two-time World Cup winners as Hetmyer has been a proven match winner with the bat. The seasoned T20 campaigner would've fortified the batting group with his experience and adaptability as a reliable middle-order batter. 

Brooks, who has a mediocre record in T20Is for the West Indies got the nod for his recent exploits with the bat in the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League 2022. In the qualifier match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors, he smashed 109 in just 52 balls to guide his team Jamaica Tallawahs to the final. He continued his good form with the bat and scored 47 in 33 balls to help Tallawahs win the CPL title for the third time.

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