BRISTOL, England, CMC – Fresh from scoring a half-century in a losing cause for the West Indies in an unofficial warm-up game, all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite is looking to get some more runs under his belt when they face off against South Africa today.
It will be the first of two official warm-up matches for the Windies, before they play Pakistan in their opening ICC World Cup on May 31 at Trent Bridge.
The Windies went down by seven wickets to Australia on Wednesday, with Brathwaite topscoring with 60 runs.
Brathwaite, who will be playing in his first World Cup, said he was looking forward to scoring some more runs against the Proteas.
“Form is relevant I guess because if you get nought the next game you’re considered out of form so you don’t want to count your chickens before they hatch, but it felt really good batting in the last game and looking forward to tomorrow [Sunday] again,” Brathwaite said.
“It’s another challenge and whatever situation presents itself is for me to use that versatility again and to adapt to it. We may need another knock like against Australia or we may need a knock where they only have three overs and I’m supporting one of the batters that is in, so it’s another good challenge for the team and puts us one step closer to the ultimate goal which is winning the tournament.”
Brathwaite said he considered himself valuable to the team because he could adapt to any scenario which presented itself.
He said if he was chosen to produce with either bat or ball, he was more than up to the task.
“When chosen, my skillset suits bowling very tight in the middle, offering some support at the death and then with the bat picking up the slack.
“If I need to come in the last three, four overs to give us a boost to the total then fine, or the odd game where I can come in and play a longer knock, so I think it’s about working on all facets of my game so my versatility makes me an asset that can be chosen at any point during the tournament,” Brathwaite said.
