Last Saturday a rare celebration occurred at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua as the West Indies won the Second Test match versus England inside of three days to take an unassailable 2 – 0 lead and regain the Wisden Trophy for the first time in ten years.
The subsequent suspension of the victorious West Indies Captain, Jason Holder, for one Test match by the ICC, for the slow over rate, has been a bitter pill for West Indian fans to swallow whilst basking in the memories of the series clincher. The suspension was levied because the West Indies were two, yes two, overs short of their quota, and Holder was fined 40 percent of his match fees, double the amount imposed on his teammates.
While this suspension may cast its ugly shadow over the celebrations it will not be able to erase two noteworthy performances, the eight wickets taken by the Player of the Match Kemar Roach notwithstanding. On Saturday morning it was announced that Alzarri Joseph’s mother, Sharon, had passed away during the night after battling a long illness. The young fast bowler, playing in his first Test match at home, had removed Joe Denly with his initial delivery and followed it up by snaring the wicket of England Skipper Joe Root on the opening day.
Despite a heavy heart, the 22 year old elected to continue playing in the Test and was greeted with a standing ovation when he came out to bat. In a fiery seven over spell in the second innings he repeated the capture of his first innings victims. Joseph’s display of mental strength and toughness in very trying circumstances must be acknowledged, as he placed the team’s needs above his own terrible loss. No doubt acutely aware of Alzarri’s pain, his colleagues who wore black armbands on Saturday, subsequently dedicated the win to the memory of their mourning colleague’s mother.
The other performance of note was the batting of Darren Bravo. Bravo’s problems with the West Indies cricket board over the last couple of years are well documented and his absence from the team had created a void that no one seemed capable of filling.
The numbers from Bravo’s innings make for ugly reading for the fan favouring the shorter formats of the game. Bravo batted for 342 minutes, faced 216 balls, struck two fours and one six whilst scoring 50. Only Shannon Gabriel, the number eleven batsman, with a strike rate of 8.33, was slower than Bravo’s 23.16.
Bravo’s innings was the turning point of the Test and series. Batting at four, he arrived at the wicket after lunch on Friday, with the West Indies on 133 for two, with both openers back in the pavilion. Shai Hope followed soon after, leaving the home side at 151 for three, and the match delicately poised.
Someone had to stay and stabilize the innings, and Bravo, the senior statesman, decided that he would be the one. On a pitch of variable bounce, where batting was difficult to say the least, and facing an England attack led by James Anderson, who in Bravo’s words, “doesn’t bowl any bad balls,” and ably supported by Chris Broad and Ben Stokes, Bravo carved an innings which will long be remembered by those fortunate to have been there in person.
Content to hold the fort, Bravo waited patiently while Hetmyer, Dowrich and Holder scored useful runs. With Hetmyer’s departure at 186, the West Indies still trailed by one run, with five wickets down. As Bravo imposed his will on the contest, the momentum shifted in favour of the hosts. The longer Bravo ploughed on, the more West Indian fans began to appreciate how much they have been deprived of his valuable batting.
Fans might remember the First Test versus Australia, at Hobart, in December, 2015, when he arrived at the crease with the score 17 for one, as his side replied to the host’s mammoth first innings score of 583 for four declared. While his teammates floundered around him like nine pin balls, Bravo calmly and patiently compiled 108, being last man out (Gabriel was absent hurt), as the West Indies fell for 223, on the way to an innings defeat.
Bravo’s half century, the longest ever (in terms of minutes) by a West Indian in Test cricket, was an amalgam of discipline and mental toughness. Bruised on the forearm and ribs, he curbed his aggression and displayed an impenetrable defence whilst compiling an innings, the likes of which, he acknowledged he has never played. For the record, he scored only 15 runs between tea and the close on the play on Friday, as the home side reached 272 for six. By the time he was last out, the lead was an invaluable 119 runs and the writing was on the wall.
Bravo, who has hardly played first class cricket in the past two years, is now back in the fold where he rightly belongs. As his name becomes mentioned more often in the company of the likes of Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson, West Indian fans can be comforted by the fact he still wants to fulfill his childhood dream of playing 100 Test matches. He has 49 to go.
We can hardly wait to see him in full cry again.
