T20 World Cup: Shimron Hetmyer, Romario Shepherd trounce Scotland

KOLKATA: Shimron Hetmyer grabbed the spotlight after making a late entry, much like West Indies’ T20 World Cup opening-match rivals Scotland. The Guyanese left-hander joined his teammates late on Friday, just hours before their opening game at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.

A visa delay forced Hetmyer to miss the team’s lone warm-up match against Afghanistan on Wednesday. However, he straightaway carried his red-hot form from the recent series against South Africa, where he amassed a series-leading 171 runs, by hitting a blistering 36-ball 64 that helped West Indies record a 35-run victory.Sharing the limelight was Romario Shepherd, who claimed a World Cup hat-trick, picking up four wickets in five deliveries to bowl out Scotland for 147 in 18.5 overs.

It was Shepherd’s second T20I hat-trick after achieving the feat for the first time against Bangladesh last Oct. The pacer sent back Matthew Cross, Michael Leask and Oliver Davidson in consecutive deliveries in the 17th and his final over of the innings and added Safyaan Sharif a ball later to finish with 5/20 in three overs.

Put in to bat, West Indies made a sedate start with openers Brandon King and captain Shai Hope getting 33 runs.

It was Hetmyer who took the attack to the rival camp after the Scots hit hard, picking up both the openers in consecutive overs. The Rajasthan Royals player opened up hitting two massive sixes off Mark Watt, collecting 18 runs in the 12th over and continued in the same vein getting a six and four off Sharif ’s next over.Hetmyer brought up his 50, with another six off debutant left-arm spinner Davidson, in just 22 balls with the help of one four and six sixes, which was also the fastest by a West Indian in the World Cup.

He got good support from Rovman Powell, who decided to play second fiddle to his more aggressive teammate. The 37-ball 81-run third-wicket stand finally came to an end when Powell fell for 24.However, Hetmyer carried on with fellow left-hander Sherfane Rutherford, who scored a 13-ball 26. Hetmyer finally fell after hitting two fours and six sixes for a 36-ball 64 when Brandon McMullen took a stunning catch at long-on off Sharif. Later he took a stunning catch to dismiss Scotland opener George Munsey. Rutherford followed Heymyer to the pavilion on the first ball of the next over as Scotland managed to restrict West Indies below 200.Brief scores: West Indies 182/5 (Hetmyer 64, Rutherford 26, Powell 24, Currie 2-23) beat Scotland 147 (Berrington 42, Bruce 35, Shepherd 5-20, Holder 3-30) by 35 runs.