Building of a fort in Brathwaite
At the dawn of the 21st century it was Brian Charles Lara , as the first decade commenced it was Shivnarine Chanderpaul , many in the Carribean believed the future belongs to Darren Michael Bravo but his frequent volunteered disappearance from the squad for unknown personal reasons left the Windies with a minimal hope of a future in test cricket, but then came mr.BOBO from Barbados – Keaigg Brathwaite.
A century against an attack arguably the world’s best with the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir and Vernon Philander has helped Braithwaite inscribe a name for himself in the list of Carribean sensations which has become sparse in the last couple of decades.
Kraigg Brathwaite scored a whooping 106 runs from 182 balls which includes a set of 12 fours and involves a 176 run stand for the 3rd wicket with Marlon Sameuls(101). This anchored a West Indian fight back in a rain-hit Boxing day test of the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy at Port Elizabeth which ended a dull draw.
Kraigg was the 2nd highest run scorer in the match after Dean Elgar’s 121 for South Africa , the point to note is Elgar thrived on the sloppy West Indian fielding while Brathwaite carved an innings under pressure from the 1st test’s innings defeat.
Brathwaite showed his class when he used the pace of the Protean seamers to make the ball kiss the point boundary a couple of times each from Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander and once with Morne Morkel . For the spinner Imran Tahir it was the onside boundary!. The ability to take singles is what has distinguished Kraigg from his West Indian peers.
A set of 21 singles 13 doubles and a couple of triples helped him on his way to 106.
For the last few years, the West Indies have been banking on Shivnarine Chanderpaul to play a one man show to save Test matches for them , with the great Shiv at 40 years of age making 21,4 and 7 runs in his last three innings meant the lone West Indian wall was weakening but the Brathwaite ton has ensured a fort under construction on top of the order which has to be brought down before the wall is exposed.
The only other occassion were the West Indies saved a test match without any significant contribution from Shiv in the last 4 years was when Darren Bravo hit his maiden double ton against the kiwis early this year.
With Bravo dropping himself from the team(both the West Indies and Trinidad & Tobago) consistently the West Indies were in search of a wall who could help hold their test innings together , and now they found a fort in Kraig Brathwaite
The yougster from barbados is a living example for the saying ‘patience pays’ . Kraigg has scored 660 test runs at an average of 82.50 this calendar year for the West Indies.
He was quoted saying “when you hit the ball in the air you get out” after his double ton earlier in the year against the Bangladeshis. the player of the series in that Bangla tour has a huge chance to be the West Indies’ best performer in this South African tour. unlike most other West Indian batsmen Kraigg has the ability to respect the good balls and target the loosners without being tempted to hit the ball in the air which means he doesn’t throw his wicket away.
Kraigg bettered his starts of 34 and 20 in the first test to build on to a century in the second. This includes a 32 ball 30 runs with 3 boundaries at a strike rate of 93 against South Africa’s strike bowler Dale Steyn. Taking on Dale Steyn who is back from a 6 wicket haul in his last innings was a nightmare for a Protean and a blessing for a Carribean.
He also took the pressure of Marlon Sameuls with his calm and composed batting when the senior was new to the crease after the back to back departures of Devon Smith and Leon Johnson to the pace of Morne Morkel. Brathwaite was equally good with the other bowlers in the line up and hit boundaries against all of them.
A West Indian lad with the ability to play long test innings frequently was what the selection panel under Clive Lloyd was looking for and they might have got their 1st long term catch in Brathwaite.
If Brathwaite continues to cherish unlike the perishing ways of a few others in the 21st century Carribean cricket history including his country man Krick Edwards , Adrian Bharath , Breandon Nash and Kieran Powell, The fans from the union of 10 countries and 5 dependencies(3 British, 1 Dutch, 1 USA) can proudly say “test cricket is far from over in the breeding ground of T20 talents”