St Johns (Antigua), Oct 4 (UNI) West Indies batter Shimron Hetmyer has been replaced in ICC Men's T20 World Cup squad after missing his flight to Australia.
Shamarh Brooks replaces Hetmyer in the squad, with Cricket West Indies (CWI) informing the ICC on Monday.
"The decision by the CWI Selection Panel was made as Hetmyer missed his re-scheduled flight to Australia, which had been changed from Saturday at his request, due to family reasons," CWI said in a statement.
"With flight availability a real challenge, a seat was found for him to leave Guyana on Monday, meaning he would, unfortunately, miss the 1st T20 International (T20I) against Australia on Wednesday, October 5 at the Metricon Stadium. This morning, Hetmyer, informed the Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams that he would not be able to get to the airport in time for his flight this afternoon to New York."
Adams said: “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 him that if there were any further delays and issues with his travel 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 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, Adams added.
Hetmyer's replacement Brooks is no stranger to the West Indies team, playing for the side in all three international formats, including 11 T20Is, all in the last 12 months.
West Indies are drawn in Group B of the First Round at the T20 World Cup and face matches against Scotland, Zimbabwe and Ireland before a possible place in the Super 12 stage of the tournament.
UNI BAV