Who is Bryan Charles? 5 interesting facts about uncapped West Indies spinner picked for South Africa Tests
West Indies had a horrid time in the recently concluded Test series against England, suffering a humiliating 3-0 defeat. They next face South Africa in a two-match Test series at home.
The first of the two Tests will be played in Trinidad from August 7 to 12 followed by the second in Guyana from August 15 to 20.
West Indies have struggled against South Africa in the longest format, having won only three of the 32 Tests against the African nation and losing 22.
West Indies have picked Bryan Charles, an uncapped spinner for the upcoming Test series.
Here are five interesting things about the uncapped Windies spinner who has been picked for the South Africa Tests.
#1 Has tasted considerable success in domestic cricket
Charles is a handy off-spinner and an experienced campaigner for Trinidad & Tobago. He made his first-class debut in 2015 and has an impressive track record.
In 44 matches, the offie has bagged 150 wickets at an impressive average of 26.56. He has picked up 10 wickets in a game once and five wickets in an innings on seven occasions.
Charles is no mug with the bat. He has a highest score of 43 and a handy batter lower down the order.
#2 Impressive figures of 13/125 against Jamaica in April, 2024
Charles had Jamaica in his spinning web earlier this year. In a first-class game between Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica, Charles single-handedly guided his team to a comprehensive win.
Batting first, Trinidad & Tobago piled on 432 runs in the West Indies Championship at Kingston in April 2024. Thereafter, Charles made his experience count and picked up six wickets in the second innings of the game, bowling out Jamaica for just 189.
Jamaica were asked to follow on and Charles picked up seven more wickets in the third innings of the game, bowling out Jamacia for a paltry score of 118.
Trinidad & Tobago won the match by an innings and 25 runs and Charles had impressive figures of 13-125 in the game.
#3 Has picked up wickets of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali
Charles first got noticed on the big stage when he picked up five wickets against a touring England team in 2019 at Bridgetown in Barbados.
In a two-day practice match for England against Cricket West Indies President's X1, Charles bagged five wickets and put on an impressive show against the visitors.
His victims included Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali. Finally, after five long years, Charles has made it to the West Indies Test squad and will look to bag wickets in a heap for his team.
#4 Represented West Indies in the U-19 World Cup 2014
Charles represented West Indies in the U-19 World Cup 2014 which was played in Dubai (U.A.E.). He played three matches in the said tournament and picked up four wickets at an average of 25.50 and economy rate of 3.92.
His victims in the tournament included Vijay Zol, the Indian skipper for the said edition of the U-19 World Cup.
#5 Has not played a single match in the Caribbean Premier League
In this day and age of T20 cricket, it is very rare that a cricketer has not featured in the nation's respective domestic league. Charles is one such cricketer who is yet to feature in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The CPL has to date seen 11 editions and is going strong in the Caribbean. Charles has been playing first-class cricket since 2015 and has tasted considerable success in domestic cricket.
He will be hopeful that his performances on the international scene will see him feature in the CPL soon.