Brathwaite enjoying challenges of captaincy
DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC – Despite overseeing an inexperienced squad for the ongoing tour, interim captain Kraigg Brathwaite said he has had no qualms about the job.
The 28-year-old was asked to lead the 15-man squad for the difficult twoTest tour after regular skipper Jason Holder, along with four other first choice Test players, declined selection for the series due to COVID-19 fears.
“It’s obviously challenging but I always enjoy it,” said Brathwaite, who also led the side here three years ago in Holder’s absence.
“From a young age I always enjoyed leading and I said, we have a good group here and the guys were disciplined. That always makes it easier. I always enjoy the challenge of captaining.”
Whereas Brathwaite endured a nightmare series in 2018 when West Indies lost both Tests inside three days, he enjoyed an excellent start to this series as his side stunned Bangladesh by three wickets in the first Test last Sunday.
He was widely praised for his leadership during the match, both in his batting and tactical approach when West Indies bowled, but Brathwaite deferred credit to the team for making the game a success.
“I was quite pleased [with my captaincy],” said the soft-spoken Barbadian.
“I thought the bowling
unit did a great job in terms of being disciplined and bowling to their fields so kudos to them.
“A field setting is only as good as the bowler makes it so I thought the guys were really disciplined. The guys were supporting me so I was quite
happy with that.”
He continued: “I had a lot of chats with the head coach (Phil Simmons) and the assistant Mr (Roddy) Estwick on different plans.
“I had a few chats with the players as well, especially the bowlers. We had little meetings where we discussed certain things and the guys were fully supportive.
“For me, I was planning different fields, thinking about different fields … but the key is to execute on the field, and at certain times the senior guys would’ve given advice and that was basically it.
“The guys were behind the plans and carried them out well and I thought we were very disciplined with the ball, keeping them to under three runs per over which was good. I think once we keep that discipline, pressure is what will bring wickets.”
Even though four debutants were included in the squad for the tour and five other players had all played less than 10 Tests, Brathwaite has contended from the start of the tour that the squad should not be considered understrength.
And as such, he stessed he was under no additional pressure to perform as the only seasoned Test batsman in the group.
“I wouldn’t say this is a depleted squad. Everyone here is fully capable of doing well at international level, which I firmly believe,” he reiterated.
“For me there’s no added pressure. As the opening batsman, my role is always to build the foundation for the team and that’s what I’m accustomed to and that’s what I strive to do to the best of my ability.”
Youth cricket made its return with Demerara beating Essequibo by 76 runs in the Guyana Cricket Board/Hand-In-Hand Under-19 Inter-County one-day tournament yesterday.
The first-round match at the La Bonne Intention Ground, East Coast Demerara, was reduced to 38 overs a side to accommodate Essequibo returning home. Demerara won the toss and opted to bat, posting 162 for eight from their allotted overs before limiting Essequibo to 86 all out in 27.2 overs.
Essequibo got the upper hand early after tall, rightarm fast bowler, Jason Holder, found the edge of explosive opener Sachin Singh with the second ball of the innings.
However,
Essequibo
lost that advantage when Matthew Nandu and Ushardeva Balgobin joined forces. The pair added 76 runs from 123 balls and looked set in the middle.
Balgobin was the more aggressive of the two, constantly chipping down the pitch to the fast bowlers.
The left-handed West Demerara batsman was
fortunate to score back-toback boundaries over third man. He was also dropped on 25 and rode that momentum to stroke two sixes and four fours on his
way to a 59-ball 45 before he was caught at point.
Nandu went on to play a responsible innings, eventually making 53 from 97 balls. His innings was decorated with four boundaries. He also put on 51 runs for the third wicket with Mavendra Dindyal.
Dindyal was busy at the crease but a mix up between the two resulted in the former West Indies Under-15 batsman being run out for 27 off of 37 balls. No other batsman reached double figures while extras accounted for 12.
Wazim Mohamed and Holder led the bowling with two wickets each for 26 and 28 runs respectively while Lance Roberts and Niko Vincent had one wicket a piece.
In the chase, Essequibo were unable to deal with the spin barrage of Demerara, led exquisitely by off-spinner, Dwain Dick. The former national under-17 all-rounder returned three for 15 while Nandu returned to take two for 21. Chaitram Balgobin was also successful, taking two for 10 and was supported by left-arm spinner, Zachary Jodah who had one wicket for five runs.
Sheldon Charles was the only batsman that looked settled as he made a patient 25 from 43 balls, with two boundaries. Vincent chipped in with 12 and extras contributed 18 but no other batsman got going.
Essequibo will battle Berbice tomorrow in the second round.
DHAKA, Bangladesh, CMC – Captain Kraigg Brathwaite yesterday sent a sober warning to his West Indies side, warning against complacency and urging them to press the reset button ahead of the second Test against Bangladesh starting here today.
Against all odds, the Caribbean side shorn of its leading stars snatched a 1-0 lead in the two-match series last Sunday, when they chased down an improbable 395 on the last day to pull off a three-wicket win in Chattogram.
That victory, along with debutant Kyle Mayers’s historic unbeaten 210, vaulted the visitors into the international limelight in a way very few expected.
Now faced with the prospect of an unanticipated and rare series win, Brathwaite said the challenge before his unit was putting the events of the last week behind them and starting from scratch.
“We’ve got to start over fresh. We got a nice win in the first Test but you know we’re starting over,” a stony-faced Brathwaite told a media conference.
“We’ve got to buckle down. We can’t be complacent, we’ve got to come and fight hard again.”
He continued: “That’s obviously the biggest thing: not to carried away. We’re obviously happy with the win but we’ve got to start back from zero and that’s one of the thing that coach [Phil Simmons] has stressed over the last two days at the practice sessions, and the guys have been buckling down and working hard.
“From me to them it will be just to stay disciplined, stick to your plans both as a bowling unit and a batting unit. Don’t think you’re starting at a hundred, you’ve got to start from zero.
“I think the guys have buckled down. I think the main thing is not to become complacent. We played a good first Test but we have five days of hard Test cricket coming up.”
A 64-Test veteran, Brathwaite will be acutely aware of the pitfalls ahead of the inexperienced unit, based on recent experiences.
In 2017, he featured prominently in a similarly historic run chase when West Indies overhauled 324 on the final day of the second Test at Leeds to beat England and level the three-Test series.
However, the touring side were quickly brought back down to earth, losing the next Test at Lord’s by nine wickets inside three days.
Last year’s tour of England also presented another such scenario, after West Indies upset the hosts in the first Test at Southampton by four wickets.
In a now familiar reversal, West Indies went to Old Trafford just days later and lost the second Test by 113 runs.
With recent tour defeats in England and New Zealand, a series win here presents a mouthwatering proposition but Brathwaite said it was important West Indies remained grounded.
“We as a team don’t want to get too far ahead. We’ve got five days of Test cricket to play,” cautioned the 28-year-old.
“We were very, very happy to have won the first Test and for us we just want to buckle down.
“The victory has meant a lot for us [but] the series has five days left and we really want to focus on that.
“The guys are very, very proud of [their performance in] the first Test and we look forward to the next five days.”
West Indies’ heroics on the final day overshadowed the fact they were outplayed over the first four days.
The hosts piled up 430 in their first innings and West Indies then conceded a 171-run lead after losing their last five wickets for just six runs to collapse to 259 all out.
While they put Bangladesh on the ropes at 33 for three in the second innings, they then watched as captain Mominul Haque hit a hundred, to set up the game in his side’s favour
Brathwaite said he was under no illusions that improvements were needed in the Windies’ overall performance.
“I think our first innings score, we can obviously improve on that for sure. Obviously the second innings was good,” he pointed out.
“I think in the field we still can be a little sharper. Probably in periods where guys are building a partnership, we can be a little tighter and not as flat.”
In their last visit to the Shere Bangla National Stadium three years ago, West Indies lost heavily by an innings with off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz taking 12 wickets to lead an all-spin attack on a turning pitch.
Brathwaite, who managed a single run in that game, said he believed the pitch would offer similar turn over the next five days and West Indies would consider playing an extra spinner.
“I think the pitch is quite similar to the first Test in terms of the dryness,” he noted.
“I see a few cracks as well so I think it will be quite similar but probably a little slower than the first Test. I can’t predict how it will play but it looks dry.
“We’ve got to buckle down and play some good cricket, whether we’re batting first or we’re bowling first.”
He added: “Looking at the pitch it (playing an extra spinner) would be a thought. Obviously come tomorrow that decision will be made.”
SQUADS: BANGLADESH
– Mominul Haque (captain), Tamim Iqbal,
Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Liton Das, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Saif Hassan, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hassan, Taijul Islam, Shadman Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Jayed, Ebadat Hossain, Hasan Mahmud
WEST INDIES – Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), John Campbell, Shayne Moseley, Nkrumah Bonner, Jermaine Blackwood, Kyle Mayers, Joshua Da Silva, Rahkeem Cornwall, Jomel Warrican, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel, Alzarri Joseph, Raymon Reifer, Kavem Hodge, Veerasammy Permaul.