MANCHESTER, England — Legendary former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd says he has advised young hotshots Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer that tempering their attacking game could bring them greater success at the higher level.

The 23-year-old Pooran and Hetmyer, 22, have sparkled on occasions for the West Indies at the Cricket World Cup, thrilling fans with their fearless approach and enterprising stroke play.

But shoddy shot selection has regularly been their downfall, leaving the team’s middle-order batting vulnerable at key moments in games.

“They are as good as any of the players that I’ve seen on show in this competition,” Lloyd, 74, told journalists regarding an extended conversation he had with both players during a function hosted by team sponsor, Sandals, on Tuesday.

“We were just discussing certain aspects of the game. They asked me a few questions about a couple of things, but I was more or less telling them that they are two of the best players the West Indies have,” said the man who skippered the regional side to World Cup victories in 1975 and 1979.

“They are the future — they just need to put some scores together. They need to, by now, just have some hundreds under their belt. And [I advised them] how they can approach it [an innings] if they’re finding things difficult. I said to them that there is no bowler that got them out, they got themselves out, really,” said the former left-hander, regarded one of the game’s finest batsmen in the 1970s and 80s.

Before yesterday’s game against India at Old Trafford, Pooran featured in seven One-Day Internationals and averages 32.6 with a top score of 63 made against England earlier in this tournament. He has a strike rate of 93.67.

Up to the same time, Hetmyer has played 31 ODIs, scoring four hundreds and averaging 41.15 to go with a strike rate of 110.3,

“They have talent and now is the time to showcase their talent, and they can only do so by making some larger scores. They’ve done the hard part, and they need to finish the job by batting sides out of the competition. If they can just apply themselves a little bit more it can be a plus for them and for the team,” Lloyd said

He believes the West Indies’ 15-run loss to Australia in their second game would have been reversed had Pooran (40) and Hetmyer (21) been able to build on the start they both got.

“It’s a plus that they have played some of the best bowlers in the world, [and] handled them very well. [Against Australia] they were playing the spinners with consummate ease and they looked really top class. Unfortunately, they had that run out [of Hetmyer] and I think that was the turning point of the game,” he said.

Asked about comparisons between him and Hetmyer, Lloyd said: “I think he has got exceptional talent. He’s got good eyes, he gets into position rather quickly, I just think he wants to score quickly and loses that sort of concentration. He needs to just apply himself a little bit more because he is a fantastic-looking player. Same thing [with Pooran] — I told him too that they are the two best players around.”