Published: 4 April 2017
GEORGETOWN, Guyana – West Indies head coach Stuart Law said today Carlos Brathwaite’s dropping from the one-day side to face Pakistan will afford the talented all-rounder the chance to further improve his weaknesses and return a stronger player.
The 28-year-old Brathwaite was left out of the 13-man squad to face Pakistan in a three-match series starting here Friday, and will now head to the Indian Premier League to take up his contract with Delhi Daredevils.
“We just thought the opportunity was there for Carlos to go away and work on a few aspects of his game, mainly his fitness and bowling – getting back to bowling how he wants to bowl so he has been left out for those reasons,” the Australian said.
“It just coincided that the IPL was there and we had no cricket after this ODI series and he hasn’t been part of the last Test series so the selectors gave him the option of going to the IPL, which I think is a good thing.
“He can get to talk to guys like Rahul Dravid and learn how to play spin and he’ll get plenty practice with all the net bowlers that are available. He should be able to work on his fitness and work on his bowling.”
Brathwaite, who shot to stardom after hitting four consecutive sixes in the final over of the Twenty20 World Cup to win the title for West Indies last April, has struggled in the one-day format in recent times.
He averages 13 with the bat from 23 ODIs and averages 47 with his medium pace, having taken 21 wickets. In the three-match series against England last month, he scraped just 42 runs in three innings and failed to take a single wicket in 24 expensive overs.
Brathwaite’s unrelated namesake, opener Kraigg Brathwaite, was the other player left out of the ODI squad, after also failing to impress in his 10 games to date.
Law said West Indies required more explosive batting at the top of the order and selectors had therefore opted for Chadwick Walton. However, he assured Kraigg had not been discarded.
“We spoke to Kraigg after the last series and we’ve spoken to him since. We’re just looking for a little bit more impetus at the top of the order,” Law pointed out.
“In the first 10 overs, the power-play – we’ve probably got to make better use of those overs when we bat. It’s not like he’ll never play for the West Indies in ODI cricket again.
“He’s got an opportunity again to get back into first class cricket and score runs, which he has done since he’s been back, plus it’s also a great opportunity for him to get into good nick and feeling comfortable with his game before the Test series starts.”
West Indies face Pakistan in the first ODI on Friday at the Guyana National Stadium and follow up with games on Sunday and on April 11.
The three-Test series bowls off April 22 in Kingston.
SQUAD – Jason Holder (captain), Devendra Bishoo, Jonathan Carter, Miguel Cummins, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Kieran Powell, Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton.
