GUTTED by the misfortune that cut short his participation in the Caribbean Twenty20 last month, Barbados all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite is working feverishly towards a return to competitive cricket early in March.
The tall fast bowling all-rounder has been on the sidelines since injuring his right knee in Barbados’ final group match against the Combined Campuses and Colleges at Kensington Oval on January 20.
Brathwaite, who represents Banks in domestic cricket and who turned out for the CCC in the 2011 first-class season, sustained an injury to the medial collateral ligament (MCL).
“It’s the ligament on the inside of the knee.
I went over on my right foot and there was too much pressure on it so it was strained and was almost a tear, apparently,” Brathwaite said.
“I heard something pop. I don’t know if that was in my mind or if my body was saying something is wrong, but I did not want to move cause I did not have a clue where it was or what it was until I actually lay down and the blood started to settle and I felt it in my knee.”
Brathwaite immediately left the field in disappointment. He recently got an MRI done and the results from Dr Jerry Thorne were encouraging.
“He said there are no tears in the ligament as was predicted and it was a strain.
“I can move forward with strength and cardio work as I would had I not had the injury,” he told NATIONSPORT yesterday.
“So it’s just a matter of getting it stronger and feeling confident within myself to bowl hard and land hard, each and every ball,” Brathwaite revealed.
But the period of relative inactivity has been frustrating for the player who made his One-day International and T20 debuts for the West Indies against Bangladesh last October.
“It’s frustrating. I went through a couple spells of depression just watching cricket.
“Every international series since then I’ve probably watched every ball. I could hardly sleep just waiting to get back on the park,” he said.
“I tried leaving home with my bat and gloves to get a few one-on-one ‘throw downs’ or whatever the case may be but then my Dad banned me from leaving home with my cricket gear.”
Brathwaite has, however, been able to mix his regular trips to physiotherapy with light training.
