Bravo – An international career wasted

COLIN BENJAMIN

IN a September 25, 2015 Newsday article, I asked the question : Was Bravo fully utilised in Test cricket ? This was after he had retired from Test cricket in January the same year.

Fast-forward now to his full international retirement, that question can now be updated to: “Was Bravo fully utilised in international cricket?” The answer would be an unequivocal, “No” considering he last played a Test match in December 2010, a one-day international in October 2014 and a T20 international in September 2016.

How is it possible that a man, who is easily the most talented all-rounder the West Indies has produced since the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers and before the emergence of Andre Russell and Jason Holder, found himself on the sidelines of the regional team so much since 2010, instead of being a permanent fixture?

How can a player in any sport, who is number three on your country’s all-time list in any criteria, not be celebrated instead of being looked at with a large degree of scepticism and cynicism?

Bravo’s 199 wickets is the third most by West Indies in 50 overs behind Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose.

Bravo’s ODI captaincy win percentage of 48 per cent is comparable to that of many captains in the difficult post-1995 era for the West Indies team. Why is current captain Jason Holder’s 27 per cent winning percentage somehow being treated as if he is overseeing a revival of Windies fortunes under his leadership compared to Bravo?

Windies’ ODI captains’ win percentages since 1995 (Minimum 10 ODIs):

Name ODIs Win Ratio

Walsh 43 52.00%

Lara 125 50.00%

Hooper 49 48.00%

Adams 26 42.00%

Chanderpaul 16 12.00%

Gayle 53 36.00%

Sammy 51 39.00%

Bravo 37 48.00%

Holder 61 27.00%

stats updated to second one-day international against India

Statistics as the saying goes in cricket do not tell the total truth. When Bravo played his last Test at age 26, his average with the bat of 31 was identical to English Ashes winning hero Andrew Flintoff.

With the ball and average of 39, was similar to dynamic South African Lance Klusener with 37 and current English all-rounder Moeen Ali. Even with those imperfect statistics, these players’ abilities as all-rounders in the longest format is often praised – while Bravo is looked at as a failure.

Could Bravo have improved on his Test statistics if he wasn’t denied opportunities after age 26? This is probably the greatest unknown question of his career and it’s certainly something he wanted to improve speaking to wired868.com in 2014:

“I never imagined I would go this long without playing Test cricket...My brother (Darren Bravo) has played 30 Tests now and we only got to play together three times.” He continued: “In order to become a household name in cricket and to earn worldwide recognition, you have to play Test cricket. That is where I got my start… Things like my maiden Test 100 in Australia; and six for 55 in England and six for 84 in Australia.

“Tests are the highest level for cricketers, I am just 14 Test wickets from 100 and I know I could do better with the bat. I would like to get ten Test centuries.”

Answering these question are important because to no fault of his own the last decade of his career saw him becoming arguably the most polarising cricketer in the Caribbean, ever since Bravo along with his era of senior players became superstars when the Indian Premier League kicked off the Twenty20 league phenomenon worldwide.

There are possibly an equal number of people that have enjoyed Bravo’s excellence as an all-rounder, compared to those that have labelled him inconceivably as a money grabbing mercenary.

Nothing would enhance the divide similar to political ideological beliefs between Democrats and Republicans or more locally PNM and UNC, than the events of the abandoned 2014 India tour.

Somehow despite all evidence to the contrary for Caribbean media and fans to see in the last four years, a strong incorrect belief pushed by Windies board, still lingers that Bravo along with Pollard were the ring leaders of the tour pull out, although all the players were in agreement about leaving due the 70% pay cut - except Marlon Samuels.

The local Azim Bassarath led Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board; role in this must also never be forgotten because they jumped the gun and removed his as Red Force captain before the then Task Force investigation of tour was even completed.

Then in September 2015, former coach Phil Simmons who came in with the novel idea of just wanting to pick the best players got suspended (and later fired in 2016) after it was exposed by the late great Tony Cozier that his simple wish to pick Bravo and Pollard was blocked by board.

2018 had the last set of major stand-off’s when the board via chairman of selectors Courtney Browne and players clashed concerning their participation in the Pakistan Super League instead of the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.

Finally, in May saw the comical situation where in even a charity game for hurricane relief victims played in London, the board refused to pick Bravo.

It was then notable in the Cricket West Indies’ praise of Bravo’s career that there were statements only from Cricket West Indies CEO and Director of Cricket Johnny Grave and Jimmy Adams – but none from board president Dave Cameron, who Bravo and his brother Darren came down against for his behaviour towards the players over the years.

Both Grave and Adams joined the board when tensions between senior players and the board were fever pitch and have both tried to change broken policies that Cameron and former director of cricket Richard Pybus created – most recently by meeting the Bravo brothers, Pollard and Narine and making them agree to play in the ongoing Super50 tournament to potentially earn a recall to the one-day team for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

So, while Bravo’s retirement statement is diplomatic, one can read between the lines. The fact that Bravo is an IPL and CPL winner in 2018 and can’t even be selected in the T20 squad to India, can give no player in his position the belief and incentive that the selectors are genuinely willing to pick him for the World Cup even if he performs in the Super50 or any form of cricket again.

It’s clearly another sign of Barbados chairman of selectors Courtney finding any reason possible to keep Bravo away from the West Indies 50 overs team that coincidentally last won a one-day series in September 2014 when Bravo was captain.

So, yes, Bravo in West Indies colours is done. What a waste.