(newsday.co.tt)Johnny Graves, CEO of Cricket West Indies, has made it clear there will be no Test return for Trinidad and Tobago’s Darren Bravo in 2018. Bravo, 29, has not played for the regional side since his infamous Twitter rant against CWI president Dave Cameron in November 2016.
The left-hander lashed out at Cameron for spreading misinformation concerning his contract with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), controversially calling him a “big idiot”.
Both parties have mended their differences, though, but Bravo is yet to make his return to Windies colours. Graves, in a telephone interview with Newsday on Tuesday, said the talented batsman will not feature in the upcoming home Test series against Sri Lanka in June or the two-Test rubber with Bangladesh immediately after. “He’s gonna struggle to get straight back in the side, so that probably rules him out of the summer tours.
I don’t think, having not played any cricket in the long format for so long and just playing T20s, you can just walk back on a Test team and be expected to perform,” Graves said.
Graves did leave a door open for Bravo, however, indicating he could be eligible for the West Indies A-team and work his way back from there. “We’ve got an a A-team tour to England coming up that maybe (he might be open to), if he wants to commit (to West Indies cricket). It’s a tri-series with India and England,” he said. He explained, though, that himself and Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams will make one last approach to Bravo to determine where he stands on playing cricket for the West Indies again.
“It’s a question for Darren. We asked him if he wanted to be part of the England tour (last year), he said his focus was on the Caribbean Premier League; we asked him if he wanted to tour New Zealand and he said he was focused on the (2017) Bangladesh Premier League; we invited him for the (2019 World Cup) qualifiers and he said his focus was on Pakistan Super League), I haven’t gotten any further info.
The onus is on him to tell Caribbean people what his intentions are, whether he wants to play any other formats than T20. Jimmy Adams and I want to meet with Darren. We want to sit down and have an open conversation so we can be clear of his plans.”
Graves also discussed the latest ICC Test rankings which saw the Windies slump behind Bangladesh into ninth spot.
The performance of the West Indies team in the other formats has not been better, as the Jason Holder-led ODI side sits 9th, while Carlos Brathwaite’s T20 team is 7th in the rankings.
“It’s disappointing and indicative of the results of two tough series away from home,” he said, referring to the tours of England and New Zealand in August and December last year.
Graves acknowledged both tours were difficult challenges for a young Test team and is looking forward to the upcoming Test series which provide a chance at redemption. “We have an opportunity this summer with Sri Lanka at home and then Bangladesh at home. It’s an opportunity to move up the rankings with two home series against teams that are just above us in the rankings,” he said.
