Shimron Hetmyer’s explosive half-century carried West Indies to respectability and ultimately victory after a sluggish start to their T20 World Cup opener against Scotland, iced by Romario Shepherd’s stunning five-wicket haul which included a hat-trick.

Head Coach Darren Sammy’s master plan to use Hetmyer’s experience and power up the order at No. 3 continues to pay off. In his three most recent innings in the position, Hemyer had scored 48, 75 and 48 not out against South Africa in the lead-up to this tournament and he saved his best for the big stage.

Smothered by Scotland’s spinners, West Indies had managed just 33 runs in the Powerplay. But Hetmyer negated a slow pitch to lift his side from 58 for 2 in the 10th over to set Scotland a target of 183 with his 64 off 36 balls, 44 of those runs coming in boundaries.

Handy cameos from Rovman Powell, who shared an 81-run stand with Hetmyer for the third wicket off just 37 balls, and Sherfane Rutherford helped push West Indies’ total up. Their dismissals amid some tight bowling at the death by Brad Currie limited the damage for Scotland.

Hetmyer couldn’t steer clear of the action, his brilliant catch reducing Scotland to 37 for 3. But it was Shepherd’s five-for, which included four wickets in five balls in the 17th over that stole the limelight in Scotland’s run chase as the tournament’s late ring-ins fell short.

Just a fortnight after being called into the World Cup as replacements for Bangladesh, Scotland skipper Richie Berrington and New Zealand recruit Tom Bruce produced a 78-run union for the fourth wicket. With them out of the way though, Shepherd tore through the remainder of the line-up as West Indies launched their campaign in style.

Hetmyer shrugged off his late arrival in India – he only landed on Friday afternoon due to a visa issue – to launch a full-blooded assault from the outset. With his side desperately needing to break the shackles, he sent the second ball he faced, off debutant spinner Oliver Davidson, over long-off for six, the first of six maximums in total for Hetmyer’s innings.

He helped himself to two more in three balls off Michael Leask in the next over and from that point it felt like West Indies could finally breathe. But Hetmyer didn’t ease up on Scotland’s spinners, heaving Mark Watt into the stands over deep midwicket and producing a devastating slog-sweep for consecutive sixes in the next over, which went for 17 runs.

A return to seam didn’t provide any respite for Scotland as Safyaan Sharif leaked another 17 runs off the next. Hetmeyer brought up his half-century off just 22 balls in wonderful style with a six off Davidson over deep cover, the fastest fifty by a West Indian at a T20 World Cup. It took a stunner of a catch from Brandon McMullen to remove him, running round to wide long on and diving at full stretch to gather a skied full toss off Sharif in his fingertips.

Akeal Hosein’s theatrical bow to his team-mate summed up Hetmyer’s day after he clung onto a spectacular catch to remove George Munsey and upstage McMullen’s effort which had removed him. Running a long way round from fine leg, Hetmyer launched himself to his right and plucked the ball from the air to collect Munsey’s pull off the bowling of Shamar Joseph. It reduced Scotland to 37 for 3 inside the powerplay.

Jason Holder had already removed Michael Jones for just 1 in the second over and the in-form McMullen, who had slammed a 39-ball 95 against Namibia in their warm-up game, managed just 14 before he shovelled a Shepherd delivery onto his stumps in a botched scoop.

Having removed the threat posed by McMullen, then conceded 15 runs off his second over, Shepherd returned for his third and all but ended the match with four wickets in five balls. His wide yorker to Matthew Cross found Rutherford at point and he had Leask caught by Powell for a first-ball duck. With the 21-year-old Davidson left to face the hat-trick ball, Shepherd beat the inside edge and pinged the top of off stump,

It was Shepherd’s second T20I hat-trick after his effort against Bangladesh in October and thoughts turned to whether he could match Jason Holder’s four wickets in four deliveries against England in their bilateral series in 2022 but Sharif guided the next ball safely into the off side. No matter for Shepherd though when Sharif tried in vain to send the following ball over mid-off but managed only to pick out Holder. Fittingly, Holder and Shepherd combined for the last wicket when Mark Watt advanced to the former and Shepherd dived backwards at short third to take the catch.

After Brandon King carved the first ball of the match, a McMullen loosener, authoritatively through the covers for four, West Indies made a tentative start in the face of some otherwise disciplined Scotland bowling. At the end of the powerplay, West Indies were 33 without loss and in need of some acceleration. King duly advanced down the pitch to Sharif and muscled the first ball after the drinks break down the ground for six and back-to-back fours followed as West Indies took 17 off the over.

Berrington turned to left-arm spinner Davidson in the eighth over and he conceded just four off it. He was joined next over by experienced off-spinner Leask, who struck with his second ball which skidded on from its leg-stump line to take out Shai Hope’s off stump. With one ODI to his name, against UAE in 2022, Davidson claimed his maiden international wicket in the next, removing King as Munsey swallowed a catch at backward point. But with Hetmyer at the crease, Scotland’s elation was short-lived.

Brief scores:
West Indies 182 for 5 in 20 overs (Brandon King 35, Shai Hope 19, Shimron Hetmyer 64, Rovman Powell 24, Sherfane Rutherford 26; Brad Currie 2-23, Safyaan Shariff 1-46, Oliver Davidson 1-23, Michael Leask 1-42) beat Scotland 147 in 18.5 overs (George Munsey 19, Brandon McMullen 14, Richie Berrington 42, Tom Bruce 35, Matthew Cross 11, Mark Watt 15; Romario Shepherd 5-20, Jason Holder 3-30, Shamar Joseph 1-26, Gudakesh Motie 1-29) by 35 runs

[Cricinfo]