A few days ago, Cricket West Indies named the West Indies men’s squad for the two-Test series against South Africa. Accordingly, CWI men’s selection committee has named two rookies Alick Athanaze and Akeem Jordan in the 15-man squad.
Darren Bravo is still on the radar of Cricket West Indies (CWI) despite not being picked up, said Senior Men’s Select Committee Chairman Desmond Haynes.
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force held to a draw against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua last week. In that match, captain Darren Bravo scored two centuries in both innings. There he scored 100 runs in 229 balls in the first innings and scored a century in 153 balls in the second innings.
The chairman added that the stylish left-hander Bravo was a “class act” and the selection panel, including Roland Butcher and West Indies interim head coach Andre Croley, would continue to monitor Bravo’s progress.
Haynes commented on this during a press conference, and he said that he spoke to congratulate him on his two centuries.
“I was in Antigua and obviously I called Bravo to congratulate him on the two hundred he scored.”
Commenting further, the chairman explained that if someone is among the talents, his age is irrelevant.
“I think we in the Caribbean don’t have the luxury to really talk about age not being on someone’s side. If someone is doing very well in our competition, I think his name must come up for selection.”
He also says that the captain of the Red Force has proven himself to be a player who can play cricket at a high level.
“I think Bravo has proven he can play cricket at the highest level and it is just a matter of if we can get the guys that are really committed and who really want to play. But Bravo is a class act.”
“He has done well at Test level and he had a period where he just lost his form and so forth but we know that Bravo is good enough to make runs at this level and we will continue to monitor Bravo’s progress as he goes along in this four-day competition.”
Bravo, who played his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2010, played 56 matches and scored 3,538 runs with 8 centuries and 17 fifties. He has scored over 3,000 runs in ODIs with 4 centuries and 18 fifties in the 50-over format.
Talking about the removal of Nkrumah Bonner from the Test team, the Chairman emphasized that the decision was reached after discussions between Roland Butcher and he (Haynes) with Bonner.
“It is not a situation that when someone is left out of the side, it means that you are done with somebody. Roland Butcher and myself, we had a conversation with Bonner and we explained to him the reason why he was not selected to go to South Africa.”