< 1 minute read

Imagine missing a World Cup because you literally didn’t manage to get on the plane in time. Imagine how you’d feel about that tournament. You could forgive Shimron Hetmyer for perhaps feeling a smidgeon of relief that Ireland absolutely battered the West Indies today, knocking them out of the tournament.

“All right Mrs Hetmyer. Is your Shimron playing out today?”

“No, he’s not. He’s grounded because he keeps missing the flights that the West Indies Cricket Board book for him.”

If you don’t know the story, Hetmyer asked for his flight to Australia for this tournament to be rescheduled due to family reasons.

The WICB found him another flight, two days later, and on the morning of the flight he told West Indies Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams that he wasn’t going to get to the airport in time. The Windies dropped him.

It feels like we’re missing a fair bit of detail in that story, but we can all surely empathise with the position Hetmyer ultimately found himself in. All your team-mates are off to play a World Cup. You thought you were going to be there. What if they win? Imagine missing out on that because you missed your bloody flight.

Fortunately, Ireland took pity on him and annihilated the West Indies, ending their involvement in the tournament.

Leg-spinner Gareth Delany’s 3-16 kept the Windies to 146-5, which didn’t seem anywhere near enough. Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker then got with the tonking and thwacking and larruping and Ireland eased home with 15 balls unused.

So now the WICB has some more flights to book.

Habitual link to King Cricket email sign-up page unexpectedly withheld to inject an invigorating shot of uncertainty into your life. ‘Whatever next?’ you wonder, adrenaline coursing through your body.