West Indies’ Shimron Hetmyer has been replaced by Shamarh Brooks in their squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia after he missed his rescheduled flight, the team said on Monday.

Hetmyer’s original flight was postponed at his request due to family reasons, which meant he would have had to skip the first of two T20 warmups against Australia on Wednesday.

“The decision by the CWI (Cricket West Indies) selection panel was made as Shimron Hetmyer missed his rescheduled flight to Australia, which had been changed from Saturday 1 October at his request, due to family reasons,” CWI said in a media statement.

“With flight availability a real challenge, a seat was found for him to leave Guyana today, Monday, 3 October.... This morning (Monday), Mr Hetmyer, informed the Director of Cricket that he would not be able to get to the airport in time for his flight this afternoon to New York,” it added.

Jimmy Adams, CWI director of cricket, said: “Whilst we changed Shimron’s flight from Saturday to Monday due to family reasons, it was made clear to him that if there were any further delays and issues with his travel to Australia then we would have no choice but to replace him in the squad, as we are not prepared to compromise the team’s ability to prepare for this extremely important global event.”

Brooks will fly out to Australia as soon as possible this week, Adams added.

Brooks made his T20I debut last December and from 11 matches he averages 23.

Hetmyer was at the T20 World Cup last year. He’s played 50 T20Is and averages almost 21.

When asked about the issue, Nicholas Pooran, the Windies’ white-ball captain, said: “To be honest, that’s not my focus at the moment. A decision has been made, there are consequences for your action. At the moment we just want to focus on why we’re here (in Australia) and how we’re going to achieve our goals.”

The West Indies play Australia on the Gold Coast on Wednesday and at the Gabba in Brisbane two days later.

Their World Cup campaign begins against Scotland in Hobart on October 17.

Written with inputs from Reuters