Hetmyer can take West Indies cricket forward: Pollard

West Indies white-ball captain Kieron Pollard believes Shimron Hetmyer could play all three formats for the Men in Maroon if he starts working on his game. The flamboyant left-hander has been very inconsistent in international cricket and wasn't offered a central contract by Cricket West Indies, which was announced earlier this month.

Of late, Hetmyer has not been a regular member of the West Indies unit, owing to fitness and COVID-19 concerns. Since 2020, he has played only two T20Is and seven ODIs and hasn't managed a single 50-plus score. Overall, the 24-year-old doesn't have impressive numbers in Test cricket and T20Is but has slammed five centuries in the 50-over format. He also played a couple of fiery knocks for Delhi Capitals in the recently-suspended IPL 2021.

"We love Hetty. He is a young, talented cricketer, a guy who we know, deep in our hearts, can take West Indies cricket forward from a generational point of view with his skill and what he can achieve on a cricket field,” Pollard said on the Line & Length TV Show on Sportsmax.

"He knows the truth and he knows what it is. We would love Hetty to be playing all three formats of our cricket, but as the saying goes, ‘you can only take the horse to the water, but you can’t force him to drink.’ So with that being said, I will leave it right there and for the individual himself to get things together.

"We love him and we want to have him. He has a fantastic record in ODI cricket; we saw what he can do in the Indian Premier League and it’s just for him to take what’s in front of him. The world is at his feet. It’s if he wants it bad enough and what he wants to achieve as an individual."

West Indies are set to host South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in the next three months and are scheduled to play five T20Is each against all three of them. "We have to plan properly in order to conquer. Not looking too much into the names (of the opposition) because as I said before these guys are talented in their own right as they would have not been selected for their national teams (otherwise)," said Pollard.

Meanwhile, legspinner Hayden Walsh Jr too didn't have a great last year and wants to make an impact in the upcoming series. "I’ve been having a tough year so far, so the fact that I am still in the plans and I still have a lot to work for, it’s still a good feeling,” Walsh said in an interview with the Antigua Observer.

"I started out the year testing positive for Covid, which ruled me out of the Bangladesh series, which I was really looking forward to. I came back to the Super 50 and I didn’t really do as well, mainly because I’ve been in isolation and I didn’t have any preparation. If that did not happen, then I probably most likely would have been around the T20 and One Day squads against Sri Lanka, so I feel like I’ve missed out a lot."