The next decade....what's in store?

Bravo, Dwayne

He's from Trinidad, as you might know. His name was around for a bit in the first class season, because he used to score heavily and take wickets. He was also selected to go to the cricket academy in Grenada in 2003 but opted out because he was given the impression by a selector that he would have been selected for the home series against Sri Lanka and I forget which other team. So he was in the news, but I didn't know much about him.

How the decision is made to do these interviews is either I will see who is in the news and decide which of the young players has the potential to move up and then I request the interview, or Ryan will say "ask X for an interview". Bravo's own happened in the former scenario.

I was at Alaprt in St Elizabeth, and Jamaica was playing Trinidad, so there was an opportunity there. When I requested the interview, he was surprised that anybody would want to interview him. I explained that we try and pick the talent that's going to go far. That seemed to have pleased him.

He answered the questions well, rather than the monosyllabic ones that you get sometimes, and when I sent the transcript, I remember Ryan saying how much he enjoyed reading that one .

Either that evening of the interview, or the following evening, the team was invited to a dance in a little village. He loves Jamaican music and can do all the dancehall moves rather well. Put on quite a show I tell you.

When Dwayne eventually made his debut for the West Indies in 2004 in Guyana, mine was one of the loudest cheers you could hear. No, I wasn't there, but I was watching from afar. When he got to Barbados I did another interview with him, this time over the telephone, about the debut and about his going on to make the Test team. He wasn't cocky and even felt that there was no certainty that he would go on the tour to England. I told him he would, and so said, so done. He got more notice for his bowling than his batting that year.

The last time I saw Dwayne was in Barbados in October. It was his brithday, and Jamaica was playing Trinidad in the one day tournament. As a fellow Libran, I wished him happy birthday and all the best in Australia.

And so he has made us all proud, especially since Lara, when he captained him, had to remind him publicly that he Bravo was a batting allrounder and not a bowling allrounder. He made his first century this year in Antigua against the South Africans, and now this one against the best team in the world. What a great feeling this must be for him.

One of the things he said in that first interview was essentially that he would bring life and positivity to the cricket field, which is exactly what he does. He's an excellent fielder and his body language is always upbeat. When he has the ball in his hands, you know that something is going to happen because he likes to experiment and he tries to think out batsmen.

I know I've gone on and on, however, when young people who you know have the potential, start to show signs that they can fulfill that potential, it's a great thing.

Bravo, Dwayne! Don't stop there. Carry on and score another century in the 3rd Test.

Posted by yamfoot at November 20, 2005 11:21 AM