Confident Brathwaite wants to be match-winner

Confident Brathwaite wants to be match-winner

Published: Guardian
Friday, March 4, 2016
DUBAI—All-rounder Carlos Brathwaite has his eyes fixed on being a match-winner for West Indies in the Twenty20 World Cup starting next week, and believes his skill-set could be valuable in the team’s success.

The 27-year-old has emerged as a strong attacking lower-order batsman and tidy seamer, and proved a revelation on the recent Test tour of Australia with a couple of half-centuries.

Brathwaite said while his batting was currently ahead of his bowling, he was working hard to produce in both areas, to earn West Indies positive results in the March 8 to April 3 ICC event in India.

“In T20, fortunately I have the option of both [batting and bowling] but some days you go well with the ball … and some days it’s not so good with the ball but then you have a chance to make up with the bat so being an all-rounder is a plus,” Brathwaite said here yesterday.

“I’m striking the ball really nicely at the moment. My batting is probably just ahead of my bowling for the time being but hopefully – at least for one or two games in the World Cup – both of them come together nicely to win a game for West Indies.”

Brathwaite, a late call-up to the Windies T20 World Cup squad because of injury to Kieron Pollard, said he always backed his ability regardless of the result.

“I’m pretty confident in my skills. I know once I go out there and execute the plans that I’ve set for myself and the targets that I’ve set, I’ll be successful,” he pointed out.

“Though saying that, it’s not every day the plans I set will come off, especially with the role that I play with the bat coming in at the end. Some days will be hit, some days will be miss but it’s about being confident in the process and if the result doesn’t come off at that point in time, it doesn’t mean the process was flawed.”

While Brathwaite’s batting has gotten all the attention of recent, he also remains a threat with the ball and picked up three wickets in the second unofficial warm-up T20 against Zimbabwe in Sharjah last Monday. He said one of his aims on the current tour was to lift his bowling.

“I’m trying a few things in the nets. I’m trying to bowl a bit quicker. It’s been working thus far and long may it continue,” he explained.

“The situation of the [Zimbabwe] game was more suited to my style of bowling – more containment rather than attacking – and I was just fortunate and lucky to get the three wickets which I was happy about.”

West Indies beat Zimbabwe in both warm-up games and will now take on English County Warwickshire in the first of two contests on Friday at the ICC Global Cricket Academy. Brathwaite said the preparation games were vital as they allowed players to find momentum and hone their skills, ahead of the World Cup.

“It’s about building up to the first game of the World Cup proper. It’s about hitting targets, building up a head of steam and getting as close to a hundred per cent ready as possible before that first game,” he stressed.

“It makes no sense peaking against Warwickshire and then having a bad World Cup. So it’s about guys hitting their individual targets, getting what they need out of the game whether it is consistently doing what they have been doing over time or trying something new.”

On Test debut last December in Melbourne, Brathwaite struck an impressive 59 in the second Test batting at number eight, and then followed up with a whirlwind 69 off 66 balls in the final Test at Sydney.

On the tour of Sri Lanka last October, the right-hander blasted 113 off 58 balls against the Sri Lanka President’s XI in a 50-over game.

All rounders are extremely handy in T20, and medium paced seamers can do well if they have good variation. And if Russell gets banned from playing the role of Carlos Braithwaite will be very important. Good to see he still has the fire burning within him to perform at the international level, since he has already got a big IPL contract.

I appreciate the level of confidence being expressed by Brathwaite. And I hope he will deliver accordingly. West Indies is really in need of a match winner to fill the gap which resulted from the absence of Pollard from its T20 World Cup lineup.