“REMEMBER THE NAME!”
Ian Bishop’s exuberant exclamation on television commentary confirmed the career-defining moment as Carlos Brathwaite launched a fourth consecutive six off a bewildered Ben Stokes to snatch an improbable victory for the West Indies over England in the last over of the World Twenty20 final in April.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, that explosive and decisive contribution in Kolkata has been voted overwhelmingly as the International Cricket Council’s Twenty20 Performance of the Year. In fact, it would be a real shock to think that any other performance was worthy of serious consideration, such was the climatic and spectacular impact of the Bajan boy’s big-hitting.
Given the nature of the modern game it is quite possible for Brathwaite to secure his financial future – and maybe all of his family, friends and even occasional backslappers – purely on the basis of that high-profile contribution. Even if he were to accomplish nothing more of substance in the sport, that explosive assault on such a combative opponent (Firestarter is the title of Stokes’ autobiography) would have already attracted considerable riches from T20 franchises around the globe seeking his services and, if invested wisely, will ensure he doesn’t slide into the dire circumstances that have afflicted so many Caribbean cricketers over the years.
Surely though, he will want much, much more from his career, even as the temptation and the offers point towards concentrating most of his considerable strength and acumen on the sport’s shortest and most lucrative format. That is the challenge faced by the 28-year-old heading into 2017 and beyond, even as he copes with the peculiarities of captaining the West Indies in the T20 format in the midst of the ongoing and ever-increasingly acrimonious disputes between prominent senior players and administrators.
If, as he stated openly and often since that memorable effort at Eden Gardens, Test cricket is the ultimate and therefore the format of the game in which he will measure his overall career and truly seek to establish his name alongside the outstanding performers of yesterday, then a considerable transformation is required.
“Built like Tarzan, bowls like Jane” was the less-than-flattering phrase coined by the former Australia and Netherlands fast bowler Dirk Nannes as he looked on from the radio commentary booth at the Melbourne Cricket Ground a year ago when Brathwaite made his Test debut, stroking an assured 59 in his maiden innings, but failing to have any real impact with the ball, as match figures of one (David Warner) for 139 from 36 overs would attest.
Those numbers alone aren’t deserving of derision for the frontline fast bowlers Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach were even more disappointing. But it is looking forward and considering Brathwaite’s role in a Test eleven that raises concern. At the moment, in the game’s traditional format, the numbers state emphatically that he is a lower-order batsman (three half-centuries in three Tests) who does little more than offer a measure of containment at one end without ever appearing to be genuinely threatening as a medium-fast bowler (Warner remains his lone wicket at a cost of 242 runs).
Clearly there is something technical preventing someone of such a physical stature from generating the sort of pace that should seem almost natural. Whatever it is, unless he can improve on his speed or add considerable movement through the air or off the seam to his armoury, it is difficult to see how he can develop into a Test-standard all-rounder where bowlers are expected to take wickets and not merely contain, as suffices in the limited-over game.
What Brathwaite does have on his side, though, is an obviously level-headed approach that, on the surface at least, prevents him getting carried away with his achievements and successes as a potential T20 superstar. Just his recognition of Marlon Samuels’ Man Of The Match innings in that World Twenty20 final and presenting him at least with the opportunity, as daunting as it was, to get 19 runs off the last over, revealed a refreshing broader perspective that is often alien to the contemporary sporting personality.
Maturity alone however doesn’t cut it in elite competition, and before Pakistan come to the Caribbean in four months’ time for a return series following the campaign in the United Arab Emirates, the T20 headliner has much work to do to be in serious consideration for a return to the Test fold after being dropped following the opening match of the series against India in Antigua last July.
Then, as in his previous two Tests in Australia, he impressed with the bat in getting to a half-century while looking completely out of place as a presumably third fast bowler.
Only by adding some bowling venom to that awesome power-hitting will he have a chance of avoiding the tag of “limited-over specialist.”
Fazeer Mohammed is a regional cricket journalist and broadcaster who has been covering the game at all levels since 1987.
