Harper: Brathwaite must focus on batting

CRICKET West Indies lead selector Roger Harper said one of the reasons Roston Chase was appointed vice-captain of the Test team for the two-match series against New Zealand is to allow opener Kraigg Brathwaite to concentrate on batting.

Harper, speaking to journalists on Zoom, on Wednesday, said, “We thought it important at this time to allow Kraigg Brathwaite, who has been the vice-captain for the Test team for a while, to just pay a little more attention, focus a little more on his batting.”

Brathwaite has been the vice-captain under Jason Holder for a number of years.

Brathwaite had a shaky start to his career after making his debut in 2011.

In 2011, Brathwaite averaged 24.33, followed by 14.20 in 2012 and 26.00 in 2013.

He was fruitful with the bat from 2014 to 2017 as he cemented his place as the Windies opener.

In 2014, he cracked three centuries and two fifties and ended the year with an average of 77.89, the best of his career.

He could not continue that form the following year only averaging 24.25.

The next two years were solid years for the Barbadian as he averaged 55.73 in 2016, which included one century and five half centuries. In 2017, he struck one century and four fifties at 37.16.

Since 2018, Brathwaite has struggled to compile runs averaging 24.44, 16.82 and 29.33. During that time, he has played 35 innings, scoring two centuries and three fifties.

“He has not been in the best of form for a little while,” Harper said. “I think he began to get himself together on the England tour (and) we want him to build on this. We thought that relieving him of the responsibility would allow him to focus some more on his batting and we thought at this time Roston Chase would be the ideal person to continue to give Jason Holder the sort of leadership support he would need both on and off the field.”

Harper said Chase is a person with a “fair amount of experience” and a player that is “tactically aware.” Chase has played 35 Test matches.

Nicholas Pooran, who has played 21 T20 Internationals, has been confirmed as vice-captain of the T20 team. Pooran will work alongside captain Kieron Pollard for the T20 series.

The three-match T20 series will be played from November 27 to 30, followed by the two-match Test series from December 3 to 15.