There’s a lot at stake for West Indian batting duo Kraigg Braithwaite and Shai Hope during the Caribbean side’s upcoming test tour of England. Success will see the Barbadian duo being knighted in the eyes of Caribbean folks or frowned upon if failure is imminent.
Both right-handers are the batting flagbearers and will have to employ the sheet-anchor role of their side in the absence of Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo. Braithwaite and Hope are among the most experienced and perhaps the side’s more supremely capable batters in a unit filled with exciting batting prospects, but many of whom are yet to prove themselves on the international scene.
The high expectations of Braithwaite and Hope bear merit since the duo has excelled in daunting English conditions before. Three years ago, when West Indies last toured England, the pair was at the center of a remarkable run chase in the second test at the Headingley Cricket Ground and as ESPN’s Andrew Mc Glashan penned it, Hope took the larger portion of the applauds. The narrative read: “Shai Hope the hero in thrilling West Indies win.”