'West Indies will miss Shimron Hetmyer, hopeful of his return soon' - Assistant coach Estwick

Shimron Hetmyer has been out of international action for the West Indies since the ICC T20 World Cup last year. He has been unavailable on personal grounds, and lately, his fitness has not been up to the mark.

Rajasthan Royals batter will miss the West Indies' upcoming series against the Netherlands and Pakistan, respectively.

The Windies' assistant coach Roddy Estwick confirmed the same, according to a report in ESPNcricinfo. Estwick elaborated on how Hetmyer's absence will feel but expects the Guyanese to be back soon.

"If someone like Hetmyer's not playing, you're obviously going to miss his talent. He's having an outstanding season for the Rajasthan Royals. He's doing very, very well. He's playing well. He will be missed, but at the end of the day, he's not there. He's asked not to be selected for this tour, so we have to get on without him, and we hope that he will make himself available for future tours," he stated.

The left-hander has scored 297 runs for the Royals in Indian Premier League 2022. Unfortunately, he missed a few games due to flying home for the birth of his child.

As for the three-ODI series against the Netherlands, Estwick said that it won't be easy for the visitors' as many of their players will be coming into alien conditions straight from the IPL. Several players will travel to the Netherlands directly from India after finishing the IPL commitments.

"Our expectation is to win all three ODIs [in the Netherlands], but it's not going to be easy. Remember, a lot of the players won't have played in conditions like the ones we'll encounter in the Netherlands. It's about how quickly we adjust to conditions. We've only got a couple of days' practice before we go into the first ODI, so it's all about adjusting and getting used to the conditions and then executing plans as well as possible," he concluded.

The first-ever ODI series between Netherlands and West Indies will be played in Amstelveen between May 31 and June 4.