Bravo: Negative energy surrounding WI cricket gone

YANNICK QUINTAL

DWAYNE “DJ” Bravo, former West Indies all-rounder, called out former Cricket West Indies president Whycliffe "Dave" Cameron in a social media post for holding back the growth of the regional team while congratulating the team on their One-Day International series win against Afghanistan.

DJ Bravo took to Instagram to congratulate the West Indies after sweeping Afghanistan in their ODI series on Monday with a 3-0 win. On Saturday, when they beat Afghanistan by 47 runs, it made it the West Indies' first ODI series win in five years – their last victory coming against Bangladesh in 2014.

“Congratulations to my friend, Keiron Pollard and the entire West Indies cricket team! Congratulations on a series win. Yes, it’s no secret after five years, but congratulations to the team and to coach Phil Simmons.”

A little later on in the video, while celebrating the team’s breakthrough victory, Bravo took time to call out the former Cricket West Indies (CWI) regime. Although not by name, the man in question seemed to be former president Dave Cameron.

“This video is to highlight some things that (have) been happening in the last five years with the last administration. The vindictiveness, the jealousy, the badmind, the ‘Mr Boss’ behaviour, ‘I’m in charge,’ you guys know who I’m talking about.”

He said with Cameron no longer running CWI, “The negative energy surrounding West Indies Cricket is no longer there.”

He pointed out that this was the same Afghanistan team that had beaten the West Indies over the past three years with the biggest change being the leadership at the top.

In March, Richard Skerrit was elected president of CWI after defeating the incumbent Cameron 8-4 in a secret ballot.

Bravo said under the previous administration,West Indies cricket was the worst it had been in years.

“But the past five years was the worst of West Indies cricket. The worst and just a few individuals with a lot of egos and bad intentions trying their best to sabotage a few individuals, end a lot of careers…”

Bravo was removed as ODI captain back in 2014 when the tour of India was cancelled.

He ended the Instagram post saying, “Every rope has an end, the longest rope in the world must have an end, and thank God it came to an end.”

During the video, he also had a message for new head coach Phil Simmons and new captain Kieron Pollard:

“This is just the beginning of great things to come. Mr Pollard, Jason Holder and coach Phil Simmons, you guys have a perfect opportunity to turn West Indies cricket around and enlighten the Caribbean people who have been stifled and suffering for the past how much years.”

Bravo also hinted that a return to international cricket might be a possibility:

“As a former West Indian player, soon come out of retirement but anyway…”