The news that young Darren Michael Bravo has been granted a short playing contract at Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is very pleasant indeed. In the recent past, very few West Indians have featured in the English & Wales Cricket (ECB) Board competitions. Obviously this guy is quite talented! John Fitzgerald Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, is USA's second best President ever. Speaking at Rice University, 1962-"We do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"-referring to a plan to land a man on the moon, brought me here. This article was difficult to research.
My best USA President of all time is William Jefferson Clinton, "Uncle Bill." Anyone who can look straight into television camera lenses, trying to convince everyone; and did; that-"I did not have sexual relations with that woman"-referring to the Monica Lewinski situation, must be very special too! Former West Indies captain, Clive Hubert Lloyd, used to suggest; "Any cricketer worth his salt should try to get a playing contract at one of the counties in England, especially if that player has already played internationally." To him, and perhaps universally agreed, "It is the best cricket finishing school!"
ECB's cricket is easily the best organised in the world. It has always been so, if not always acknowledged thusly. There are 18 counties, each with at least 25 players on their books. The organisation and discipline, by players and officials alike, is like no other anywhere. One could only learn from these. There are at least three very important, sponsored competitions-40 overs, Twenty20s (T20) and Four-Day games-that transpire and are run concurrently with Tests series. Yet, all are very important to ECB. For me, the most important aspect of county organisation is the phenomenon of second XI teams. These are actually feeder squads, the county's "bench," if you will. Many an established international cricketer on county books has played second XI games, hoping for the return of form or fitness; very useful indeed.
As an example of organisation, on August 27, ECB is staging what is commonly known as "Finals Day," at Edgbaston cricket ground, home of Warwickshire, where the Third Test between India and England was played. That event is so well organised that all of the media outlets look forward to it. On that day, first of three T20's, Somerset, a county that once boasted Sir Viv Richards, Hallam Moseley and Joel Garner, now with big-hitting Kieron Pollard, will play Hampshire, that great club that once had Andy Roberts, Gordon Greenidge, Malcolm Marshall and Cardigan Connor on its books.
Then, Lancashire, which in the past had Clive Lloyd, myself, and Michael Holding in its employ, will play Leicestershire, at one time the home of Ireland's West Indian coach, Phil Simmons. The winners of these two games will then play in the final. The entire event has been sold out many months ago and will be covered by television and radio, nationally and internationally. Bravo is a mere pup. Only 22 years old; eight Tests, 28 ODI's, three T20's to his budding international cricket life; he is expected to not only go on fully but to lead West Indies batting recovery for the next decade.
Thus, he should have as clear a picture of that fact as looking at the sun from Maracas beach. Before he takes up this opportunity, Bravo should also be made fully aware that some of West Indies best left-handers have preceded him. Sir Gary Sobers was a stalwart at the very Nottinghamshire, while Alvin Kallicharran is a legend at Warwickshire, as is Bravo's own relative, Brian Charles Lara. Lance Gibbs, Deryck Murray and Rohan Kanhai played for Warwickshire too. Indeed, Gibbs was instrumental in getting me my first taste of England, and county cricket, when, in conjunction with the Chronicle newspapers in Guyana, he arranged for me to go to Warwickshire on a coaching scholarship in 1972.
The fact is there are so few West Indians playing for counties these days that one really has to look for the proverbial needles in a very large haystack. West Indian cricketers have long gone out of vogue, simply because the team, collectively and players, individually, have not merited such positive selection. I have checked very assiduously, believe me, but you will find only so few West Indians now involved in county cricket. Of the 18 counties, with a collective 450 cricketers on their respective annals, not even 18 cricketers are West Indians. That is so poor a fact that no more comment is necessary. Do not get me wrong. Playing for a county in UK is not more important to any player than playing internationally, even though some English players, circa 1970s and even 1980s, used to think that. They reasoned, then, that they made a much better living playing for county than playing for country.
That was actually true, however, with the advent of central contracts, top and senior players now know where their bread is buttered. They put in the hard work for the counties, planning that they would then be called up for the relatively cushier jobs of playing for the country. But it is a very vicious circle! Most well known, even legendary West Indians had a stint or two in county cricket. Ian Bishop played at Derbyshire, where young Anguillan Chesney Hughes now plies his trade. Hughes is almost alone. Jamaican Gareth Breeze still plays for Durham, where the present West Indies head coach, Barbadian Ottis Gibson, and the durable Guyanese, Shiv Chanderpaul, made their county names. The late Keith Boyce is a full legend at Essex. They have a West Indian too-Jamaican Maurice Chambers. Unfortunately, he has now qualified to play for England and would probably take that up. Glamorgan, that county that once had the services of the late Roy Fredericks, and Gloucestershire, with stalwart Courtney Walsh, also a legend for West Indies, now have no West Indians.
Hampshire, Kent, where Bernard Julien and John Sheppard made tremendous impacts in the past, Lancashire and Northamptonshire, now have no West Indians on their books at all. Middlesex, where Wayne Daniel, Larry Gomes and Desmond Haynes are held in very high esteem, has the enduring Barbadian Corey Collymore still plying his trade there. He must feel like a lone wolf. Surrey, a county that boasted Sylvester Clarke and Monty Lynch in the past, Sussex, and Yorkshire, now have no West Indians. At least, very positively too, present West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach is enlisted at Worcestershire. That, as the saying goes, is that; so few West Indians!
For Bravo, this is a lifetime chance but he does not have to go far for references. Hopefully, he will have gleaned insights from brother Dwayne's experiences from his playing days at Kent and Essex. A great responsibility has been placed on Darren's shoulders; to show that West Indians are still good and will become great again. As I said, it will not be easy but yes, it could be very fruitful!
