Brathwaite’s SOS

A struggling Kraigg Brathwaite has sought out the assistance of fellow Barbadian and West Indies opening great Desmond Haynes, to help turn around the slump in his batting form.

Brathwaite has had a torrid time at both the international and regional level over the past year and a half. Some, including West Indies fast-bowling great Sir Andy Roberts, consider him fortunate to be in the team in England based on recent form. He averaged only 33.88 in 2019 with no hundreds and no fifties.

Brathwaite scored 134 and 95 when West Indies chased down 322 to win the second Test at Headingley in 2017 – their first Test victory in England for 17 years – and team-mate Shai Hope became the first man to score two centuries in a first-class match at the ground with 147 and 118 not out.

Since then however, Brathwaite has averaged 25.33 in his last 20 Tests. He made it into the 40s twice as West Indies defeated England 2-1 in the Caribbean 18 months ago but his failure to convert those starts, followed by even leaner returns against India and, most recently Afghanistan, have put him under increasing pressure. And without Darren Bravo in England having opted out of the tour, Brathwaite is the senior batsman in the side with 59 Tests under his belt and with added responsibility at the top of the order.

“I had some words with Desmond Haynes back in Barbados,” Brathwaite said today via video link from the team’s Manchester training base. “Me and him always had a good relationship because he was team manager for the Barbados team when I first started, so I had some chats with him. He was obviously an opener as well and that’s been very beneficial to me.

“A lot of it is keeping it simple, you don’t really want to complicate it too much. It’s just simple advice, just about what he did back in the day. Three hours left in a day is always a tough period for an opener, or an hour. So it’s just mental stuff that he helped me with… he was very strong mentally,” Brathwaite said.

The opening bastman said his success at Headingley in 2017 was “history” and he was focused on his current job and not the past.

“That was almost three years ago,” Brathwaite said. “Looking back at stuff I did I can obviously see things I did well, but that’s history. I have a current job to do here and I’m ready, I’m raring to go.

“I’m up for the challenge… I know all the guys here can do well. I’m starting the innings and I’m just going to do my job, it’s as simple as that. I know we have a good batting line-up and everyone’s ready and raring to go, so no added pressure really.”

Having said that, Brathwaite also believes that run-chase at Headingley could hold the key to success this time around for a side that, by head coach Phil Simmons’ admission, has come to rely too heavily on its bowling attack.

“We’ve got to score runs,” Brathwaite said. “Once you can put runs on the board we put our team in a great position. We’ve still got to be disciplined with the ball but I think potentially, when we won the game at Headingley, we scored runs, we chased down over 300 runs, so we’ve just got to put runs on the board.”

“You’ve just got to be mentally strong. The last couple of series, we’ve got to be honest with ourselves, we didn’t do as good as we know we can so we’ve got to buckle down and stay disciplined. Discipline will carry you a long way, in Test cricket in the whole and then especially here in England where the ball will potentially be moving. Once you can be disciplined throughout the whole day and not just for half an hour, an hour, I think that will bring forth big runs.”

Brathwaite’s discipline and patience stood out against England in the Caribbean 18 months ago, where he performed relatively well against the seamers and the new ball, but fell to Moeen Ali three times in six innings. But he has never faced fellow Barbadian Jofra Archer, who is set to play West Indies for the first time in a Test since qualifying to represent England last year.

“Jofra is quality,” Brathwaite said. “I’ve never played against Jofra, not even back in Barbados, but I look forward to the challenge. We know it won’t be easy so you’ve just got to work hard. Our net sessions are quite competitive, our guys are quite aggressive so we’re getting in shape.”

West Indies are currently set up in Manchester for their training and take on England in the first of the three Tests at the Ageas Bowl starting July 8. (Cricinfo/WG)