DWAYNE BRAVO, the former vice-captain and the third most senior member of the West Indies team for the forthcoming tour of Sri Lanka, has poured more fuel onto the fire of controversy over the omission of Ramnaresh Sarwan from the squad.
In an interview with the Trinidad Guardian likely to attract the attention of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Bravo said: “With the pitches down there expected to favour the spinners, Sarwan would have been very useful to us.
“I cannot understand why he can’t be selected for the tour, but all we can do now is to try to do our best for our team and make up for the loss of his batting and general cricket experience.”
Bravo said he believed that Sarwan, 30-year-old veteran of 83 Tests, would have been valuable in assisting new captain Darren Sammy on his first assignment.
“When you have a new captain, you need experienced men around to assist him and Sarwan would have been an ideal man to have in Sri Lanka,” he said.
The 27-year-old Bravo’s 37 Tests in six years place him behind only Shivnarine Chanderpaul (126) and Chris Gayle (88) in terms of Test experience.
Gayle was replaced by Sammy as captain and Bravo by Brendan Nash as vice-captain after they both turned down WICB’s offer of a retainer contract for the coming year in September.
Sarwan’s was not renewed.
The WICB said it was concerned about his “extremely indifferent attitude and sporadic approach towards fitness, particularly in recent years”.
Bravo told the Guardian that the West Indies could still spring a surprise down in Sri Lanka”.
“We have a new team and they also have a new team, so let’s see what happens,” he said. “I have never been to Sri Lanka and this will be a good learning opportunity for me. I am looking forward to going down there to do my best and assist the West Indies.”
Bravo said he intended to be “a bit of a father figure” to his 21-year-old half-brother, left-handed batsman Darren, and fellow Trinidadian, 20-year-old opener Adrian Barath.
“They are young guys and are very talented and I intend to keep close to them and assist them in anyway I can while on tour,” he said.