West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite has credited work done with former West Indies coach Ottis Gibson, after he scored his second Test century on the opening day of the First Dhaka Bank Test against Bangladesh in St Vincent on Friday.Brathwaite batted out the day, concentrating for 330 minutes to record an unbeaten 123 against an attack that got better as the day progressed.With the high tide causing a change in the nature of the pitch and allowing for the ball to grip, the spinners came into their own but Brathwaite was able to hang around and at the same time march towards his milestone.
He added that the difference to his game coming back into the West Indies fold was the extra work he put in with Gibson. "I knew that facing Bangladesh we would get quite a lot of spin, so I decided to work hard with former coach Ottis Gibson at the HPC (High Performance Centre) and it paid off. He used the bowling machine to send down a lot of spin bowling for me and we worked hard at my game against the spinners. It has paid off in this game so far and I just want to continue batting for as long as I can."
Brathwaite, blamed in the past for dour batting again, took the positive approach as he had done when he got his maiden Test hundred in Trinidad in June. Brathwaite also credited his opening partner Chris Gayle, whose brisk stroke play allowed the batsman to settle down early on.At the close of play yesterday, Brathwaite was unbeaten on 205 to have West Indies 407 for three in their first innings at the close on the rain-affected second day.