World-renowned and one of the most recognised all-rounders in all forms of cricket, Dwayne Bravo said he would not have retired, if he was selected for the current West Indies series in India.
Bravo, who announced his retirement from West Indies cricket, two weeks ago, made the disclosure during an interview exclusive on i95.5fm – Isports show – on Saturday night while talking to Andre Errol Baptiste. Bravo when asked why he really retired at age 35, and if not being selected for the India series played any part in his decision he responded, " Yes, if I was selected, for the India series, I would not have considered retiring at this stage, but it did not happen and given all that was going on with my body, it would not make any sense to stay around, especially watching the talent that is coming forward. At the time, I knew the World Cup was next year, but then the teams were selected, so I made my decision after that.”
While admitting, that he was not one for regrets he said, "Because I played 40 Tests matches and cherish that, but the truth is that the coach (Otis Gibson) at the time, when Darren Sammy was appointed captain, told me that, I would not be needed because I would affect the balance of the team, as they only wanted one all-rounder, and as captain Sammy was the all-rounder, so with that I would not be needed. From then on my Test career became difficult, even though, I still hoped to be selected."
Bravo who made his Test debut on 22nd July 2004 against England believes that the events that led to the troubled tour of India could have been prevented if both the West Indies Players Association and the West Indies Cricket Board had met with the players.
“It was like this, Wavell Hinds as WIPA president met with a set of the senior players and asked us to take a pay cut, for the sake of the other players and we agreed in principle, because we understood as senior players but we stated to him, what was the amount and he said, he would work it out and send it to us first, and we agreed to that …but then the tour of India starts and players call and tell me to check the contract, as they have cut our salaries by 75%, which was a shock to all of us,” Bravo explained.
He explained, "We had a video conference with Hinds and the players and we told him, he never told us about the contracts, but he stated he told two players about the contracts, but those players (Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin) stood up in the meeting and stated, that was not true, as he never spoke to the players…and he could not reply. Wavell then stated that he gave the contract to Samuel Badree to pass on, and Badree stated that was never the plan and that was not his job anyway, so it was bad from the start.”
Bravo who announced his retirement for West Indies cricket on October 24 said, "With regards to to the situation in India,” From the beginning, the then President of the Indian cricket Board asked us to play even though we had decided not to play the first match and I remember having to convince the players to do that, in fact, I know that efforts were made through conversations to try to have some of us who were playing in the IPL lose our contracts by talking to the leading Indian cricket officials, but it did not work. In fact, I can say this now, that the Indian cricket Board offered to pay the players the monies that were lost from the change in the contracts to stay on, but we decided after making every efforts to have meetings with WIPA and the cricket Board to not play any more games. I wish that I had a recorder and recorded the meeting because all but one player agreed and in the end, only Dwayne Bravo has not played One day cricket since, although initially both myself and Kieron Pollard lost out on places in the World Cup.”
Clearly satisfied with his decision to play just T20 franchise cricket for another few years he said, “But it is okay in the end, because I was the captain and there were several young players who had their careers in front of them, but I can sleep well at night, because I know that everyone knew the decision we took and my conscience is clear. I would not change anything from that tour other than having a recorder to keep with all that was said.”
Bravo whose record as One day captain is arguably one of the best in the last 20 years and who last played an ODI for the West Indies on 17th October 2014, said, "The team came together for the World T20 championships because they had a players' coach (Phil Simmons) who believed in them and who supported them when it was necessary, but similarly he would tell them when they did things wrong. We knew that no one wanted us to succeed. A lot of these countries they are laughing at West Indies cricket now, because they do not want us to succeed. You know when we won Dave Cameron could not come into the dressing room to congratulate us, that itself says something.”