gmsports@guardian.co.tt
President of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board Azim Bassarath believes the West Indies have set up an excellent platform for a strong challenge in the ICC T20 World Cup which will be played in the Caribbean next June.
The Cricket West Indies vice-president commented in light of the Caribbean cricketers’ exciting 3-2 victory over defending World Cup champions England in the T20I series which ended on Thursday with a four-wicket win for the home team.
The home team also triumphed 2-1 in the five-match ODI rubber which preceded the T20s.
“The win was not surprising, since March the West Indies have been performing well having beaten South Africa and India in white ball cricket,” said Bassarath.
He said the men in Maroon clearly showed they were hungry for success and obviously enjoyed playing as a unit under Darren Sammy.
“Their superlative string of wins against very good competition augers well for the future with the T20 World Cup on the horizon, in front of their home crowd,” said the TTCB boss.
Bassarath also welcomed allrounder Andre Russell who distinguished himself on his return to the West Indies set-up after a lengthy lay-off.
He said Russell brought new energy into the team and looks like he’s enjoying his cricket having experienced a very rewarding T20I series against England.
In the first match which the home team won by four wickets, Russell took 3 for 19 and scored an unbeaten 29 from 14 balls to cop the Man of The Match award, in the second match he scored 14 runs from 10 balls, and a poor bowling performance in which his four overs scored 66 runs as West indiers won by ten runs, in the third match, he scored just eight runs and took one wicket as England won by seven wickets. In the fourth match, he kept the inning alive with 51 runs from 25 balls after he took one wicket but the visitors levelled the series 2-2 with a massive 75-run victory, and in the fifth and deciding match he took two wickets for 25 runs and scored three runs and the Caribbean team won by four wickets.
Bassarath said Russell’s contribution was telling, taking a look back at his performance in each match, especially the first which helped the West Indies snatch a 1-0 lead in the series that earned him the “Man of the Match” honours.
Bassarath said Russell also was very influential in the team’s dressing room helping in strategizing especially for the deciding match of the series on Thursday at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Regarding the current travails of Red Force captain Darren Bravo, Bassarath said that the TTCB would certainly ask the stylish left-hander to make himself available for national duty.
“Darren has just led the national cricketers to its record 14th win in the regional Super50 Tournament and also took the Golden Bat for the most runs in the series. He should continue to let his bat do the talking,” said Bassarath.
Bravo, who was the leading run scorer in the Regional Super 50 tournament, 416 runs in eight games at an average of 83.20 with one hundred and three fifties, failed to get the selector’s nod, declined selection to go to Australia with the Test team next month. Chief selector Desmond Haynes confirmed this in a virtual media conference on Wednesday evening after the team was selected.
Haynes said the Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe called the left-handed batsman who reiterated he is “sticking with his decision” to take a break from international cricket.
Bravo, 34, in a tweet ahead of the England white-ball tour to the Caribbean indicated he was taking a break from the international game after he was overlooked for the ‘Home for Christmas’ Series. Bravo scored the most runs in the Regional ‘Super 50’ as well as finishing second to Alick Athanaze in the four-day regional tournament earlier this year.