Kolkata: Romario Shepherd took the first hat-trick of the T20 World Cup after Shimron Hetmyer broke Chris Gayle’s record for the quickest fifty by a West Indies batter as the former champions kicked off their campaign here with a 35-run win over Scotland in Group C at Eden Gardens on Saturday.
Asked to chase 183, Scotland, the late replacement for Bangladesh, were already staring down the barrel at 132/5 after 16 overs. Seamer Shepherd came in to bowl his third over of the match and ended up taking four wickets in the over, including a hattrick, hastening Scotland’s defeat.
Mark Watt sliced Shepherd off the first ball to deep point to take a single and give the strike to Matthew Cross. Shepherd bowled full and wide, prompting Cross to open the face of his bat and find Shane Rutherford, who had come in from the deep to backward point just before the delivery.
In came Michael Leask, who was lured into lofting a fuller ball from Shepherd that Rovman Powell held on well at long on despite jarring his shoulder while landing. Bowling the hattrick ball, Shepherd, going around the wicket, angled in a delivery that nipped back into left-hander Oliver Davidson, who missed attempting to drive and was bowled. It was the fourth T20I hattrick for West Indies, and the second for Shepherd after taking 3/36 against Bangladesh in Chattogram last year.
Scotland were looking dangerous when captain Richie Berrington (42 – 24b, 3×4, 2×6) and Tom Bruce (35 – 28b,1×4, 2×6) added 78 runs for the fourth wicket, but the Shepherd over completely changed the trajectory of the game.
West Indies had started on a slow note, scoring only 33 in the first six overs. Only after Hetmyer started dealing in sixes that West Indies were finally looking at ease.
In the batting hierarchy of West Indies, Hetmyer’s name always came after Nicholas Pooran. Both are left-handers and can hit the ball a fair distance, but Pooran probably was rated higher, and had a better conversion rate. As long as Pooran made himself available for West Indies, who would bat at No.3 was a pretty much foregone conclusion. Till he retired from international cricket and a door opened for Hetmyer earlier this year.
Ever since he was reinstated at No.3, Hetmyer’s scores are 14, 9, 75, 48* and now a 36-ball 64. And Saturday’s innings was as much a match-winning one as it was a signal of intent that he isn’t taking any of this for granted. Cherry on the top? Breaking Chris Gayle’s record of the fastest ever fifty by a West Indies batter. Put it all together and West Indies wouldn’t be too dissatisfied with the way Hetmyer is shaping up.
His IPL experience is formidable, but the awareness in adapting to a slow Eden Gardens pitch is what made Hetmyer’s knock so watchable. It wasn’t without some luck though, with one of his lofted shots falling in no man’s land after getting an inside edge. Hetmyer kept hitting though, justifying his team’s confidence in him at No.3. Coach Daren Sammy was speaking about the transition from Pooran to Hetmyer on Friday.
“Hetmyer has been a massive part for us in that South Africa series (where he scored 9, 75 and 48*). It was a beautiful conversation to see his team-mates challenging him to take that No.3 spot,” he said. “Over the last 3-4 years, he’s been finishing the innings, so kudos to him. The responsibility he’s batted with over the last three games, if he continues like that, he makes our batting stronger. He plays like that, he puts his hands up to be the man of the tournament.”
This confidence had Hetmyer hacking away at the bowling without a helmet as Scotland tried to get more breakthroughs with spin. Of his 64 runs, 44 came through boundaries. From 58/2 in the 10th over, West Indies added 124 runs in the last 10 overs thanks to cameos from Powell and Sherfane Rutherford. Even in fielding, Hetmyer was in the limelight, running around from fine leg and throwing himself to the right to hold on to a splendid one-handed catch of George Munsey.
