T20 World Cup: I'm trying to be as consistent as I possibly can, says WI's Hetmyer

Abu Dhabi, Nov 5 (IANS) West Indies batter Shimron Hetmyer said ahead of West Indies' last match in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, he is trying to achieve as much consistency as he can with the bat. He added that batters who are consistent will help his team in doing well in the run-up to the next edition of the mega event in Australia next year.

Coming into title defence, West Indies are now out of the race for the semi-finals from Group 1 after losing to Sri Lanka by 20 runs on Thursday. In that match, Hetmyer, who had struggled for fluency by registering single-figure scores in the tournament, remained unbeaten with 81 off 54 balls, his career-best score in the format which eventually went in vain.

"I'm trying to be as consistent as I possibly can. It really helps with the overall performance of the team, really, with having consistent batters in the team and having players who put up their hands more times than not will really help in us going forward with knowing we have another World Cup coming up pretty soon and then we have all the series to play as well," said Hetmyer in the pre-match press conference on Friday.

Hetmyer reflected on his outstanding knock against Sri Lanka, saying that he was just trying to give his team a chance to chase a massive 190 after losing three wickets in power-play. "I was just trying to give the team and give myself a chance, really, because I knew that at the time the spinners were the only one that really posed a danger for any one of the batsmen at the crease. So with pace on the ball, it would have been much easier."

"At the time I was thinking the best thing to do was to try as much as possible to get at least 24 runs off any one of the spinners. And then when the seamers come on, just try to capitalise as much as possible, at least try to get at least ten plus over each over that they bowled. So basically make it back, off the spinners. But losing wickets didn't really help the case."

Hetmyer mentioned kind words from senior all-rounder Dwayne Bravo after Thursday's match. The match against Australia on Saturday marks Bravo's last match as an international cricketer.

"He's really just said basically the same thing that you said about myself and Pooran being the future and for us to put their hands up, more times than not, to win games for the West Indies team and let us not be lackadaisical in terms of even practise, our mindset."

"And so just have that mindset that every time we go out, in whatever situation it is, that we could win the game for our team. I think that's really something that would really help both of us in our development as we continue to grow in T20 cricket. So far, it's been good, because after he spoke to us, Pooran, he got two 40s and last night I got 80, too. It's been good words and really something that I've taken on and I'm trying to work on from now on."