… admits Hetmyer was among those in discussion for vice-captaincy

By Clifton Ross

WEST Indies head selector Roger Harper said the Caribbean Boys have shrugged off the recent off-field fiasco and are more than ever fired-up; as the days wind down to the start of the T20 series.

It has been a rough 72 hours for Windies after allegations of breaking the bubble’s bio-secure rules surfaced, thus resulting in the team being banned from their remaining days of training at Christchurch. Harper said despite the setbacks, he continues to observe high-intensity within the camp.

“I have been an observer at our training and practice sessions within the bubble that I’m assigned to and I must say the practice sessions were very exciting. So we’re very keen on looking forward to the assignment ahead”. Harper stated.

The former Guyana and West Indies all-rounder, during Wednesday’s Zoom conference, said the players were using their errors as added motivation to remain focussed on their mission ahead.

He added that the appointments of the two new vice-captains in Roston Chase (Test) and Nicholas Pooran (T20), were also important, especially in the case of Chase, when mapping out the team’s plan for the future.

“We thought it important at this time to let Kraigg Brathwaite, who has been vice-captain for a while, just pay a little more attention and focus a little bit more on his batting. He has not been in the best of form for a little while and we thought that this will allow him to focus more on batting.

Roston Chase would be the ideal person to give Jason Holder the sort of leadership he might need on and off the field,”.explained the selector.

News of the Windies’ little bubble-trouble hurt the team’s image, having been the most experienced side with regard to playing in the bubble since international cricket resumed in the summer with the England tour.

And Harper said despite the mistakes he believes that the players have learnt from their mistakes and are ready for action against the Kiwis.

“Like everything else the preparations have been going good so far, barring the hiccups. What this has done, though, is affect our training because now the last couple of days we weren’t able to train. But like everything else it’s an opportunity to learn when we deviate from plans, how it affects the team but if anything I think this makes us more focussed now”. Harper pointed out.

Harper also touched on some behind-the-scenes works regarding the appointments of the two vice-captains. He admitted that Guyanese star Shimron Hetmyer was among the names thrown in the basket of discussion.

He said the left-hander, who shot to fame after winning the U-19 World Cup a few years ago, then going on to carve out a good international career to date; was a candidate but believed the more experienced Chase had ticked all the boxes.

“There were a number of names which came up, I don’t want to go into too much detail. But I appreciate that Hetmyer has got some experience having successfully captained the West Indies U-19 team and he of course is someone we had at the back of our minds. But like I said, Roston Chase was the ideal person for the vice-captaincy at this time,”. he ended.

Meanwhile, members of the West Indies team have returned negative results from their third and final COVID-19 tests, conducted on Day 12 of the ongoing tour of New Zealand.

The players, management and support staff are scheduled to leave managed isolation today and travel to the southern town of Queenstown, where they will play a three-day match and a four-day match against New Zealand ‘A’. These matches will be on November 20-22 and on November 26-29 at John Davies Oval.