Kraigg Brathwaite is back but Shamarh Brooks remains in charge of Barbados Pride.
In a vote of confidence, Brooks has been retained as captain for the ninth round Digicel Professional Cricket League Regional 4-Day match against Guyana Jaguars starting tomorrow at Kensington Oval, in spite of the inclusion of Brathwaite, the West Indies Test vice-captain since 2015 and Barbados first-class captain since the 2013-2014 season.
The Barbados Cricket Association announced a 13-man squad yesterday that also features the return of Shane Dowrich and Miguel Cummins, who like Brathwaite, were members of the West Indies Test team on a recent tour of New Zealand. Their inclusions follow the return of fellow New Zealand tourists Roston Chase and Kemar Roach who suited up for the Pride in the last series against Windward Islands Volcanoes.
While lauding the effort of Brooks during his six matches as Barbados Pride captain after missing the first two games when he was leading the West Indies ‘A’ team in a series against Sri Lanka ‘A’, chairman of selectors Hendy Wallace said the 29-year-old should also benefit from having Brathwaite and the other internationals around him.
“Given that he was given the responsibility of captaining the West Indies ‘A’ team, it was a great opportunity for him to enhance his skills and by and large, I think he has done a reasonable job,” Wallace told MIDWEEK SPORT.
“With the return of all the international players it will certainly make a difference to the whole look of the team. He has played with these guys before. He has played under them. He has captained some of them as well. In strengthening the team with the return of international players, one would think that that it will augur well for him with his strategies. All things being equal, he should enjoy the situation.”
Brooks has enjoyed a reasonably satisfying season with the bat, having scored 401 runs at an average of 40.10 while leading a Barbados Pride team that have been hampered by adverse weather throughout.
Having to make do with a handful of players on West Indies duties at the start of the competition, Barbados were never at full strength and will go into the penultimate round of matches in a distant second place behind repeat champions Guyana Jaguars.
“It is reasonable to say it has not been a settled team per se. The nucleus has been a settled one but the weather has played a significant part. We would have situations where we had a few debutants. It was one moreso for development than anything else,” Wallace said.
“Once Guyana picked up that sort of lead, it was always difficult to catch them. You had to try and balance good performances along with looking at the bigger picture of trying to develop players, given the situation we found ourselves in, having so many players away on representative duty.”
In addition to Brathwaite, Dowrich and Cummins, the Pride have also found room for young fast bowler Chemar Holder after his ten-week attachment to the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy in Australia. The quartet replace opener Anthony Alleye, batting all-rounders Kevin Stoute and Kenroy Williams and new wicketkeeper/batsman Tevyn Walcott.
Despite having no chance of winning the title, Wallace said the squad still had a few objectives for their last two matches.
“We’ll still want to win. Ultimately, that’s the brand of cricket will want to play. They’ll want to win and seize the opportunity to look at some of our emerging talent and see how best they can adapt at that level. We have some players who are still trying to find their feet. This is a great opportunity for them with a different kind of pressure,” Wallace said.
“It’s not the pressure of pushing for a championship. You want to win and see how players will express themselves and showcase their skills in that sort of environment.” (HG)
Squad: Shamarh Brooks (captain), Kraigg Brathwaite, Jonathan Carter, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Justin Greaves, Chemar Holder, Shayne Moseley, Kemar Roach, Shamar Springer, Hayden Walsh Jr, Jomel Warrican.