By CMC.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Carlos Brathwaite says his attacking half-century on Friday typifies the way he wants to approach his batting in international cricket.
Batting at number 10, the strapping right-hander blasted 54 from 46 balls, with four fours and four sixes, to help propel West Indies up to 209 all out, on the second day of their three-day tour match against Sri Lanka Cricket President’s XI.
“I was just trying to set a template for the way I want to bat, the way I want to play my game. Impose myself on the bowling and be smart while doing it. I got the balls in the areas that I wanted to play my shots and executed them successfully,” said the 27-year-old.
“I want to be feared as a powerful batsman but there will be times when I need to pack up the boundaries and play a long haul knock, and I also want to be versatile about to do that.
“But the template I want to set for myself is one who goes out there and lets bowlers know that I’m here, whether it’s hitting boundaries or running singles positively, just playing a positive brand of cricket.”
Brathwaite produced a similar explosive knock against the Australians back in May, when he belted exactly 50 off 42 deliveries in a tour match at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium.
Though he is yet to play a Test, such performances have kept him in the selection frame and he said once picked, he intended to continue playing with flair and aggression.
“Looking at the team, if I do get a chance to play, I’d be batting seven or eight and that’s a tricky time in between the top order and the lower order where you can either shift the momentum or suck up the momentum and then shift it [later on],” he explained.
“I think my game is best suited to counter-attacking, taking the momentum away from the fielding team and putting it back in our favour.”
Brathwaite’s only first class hundred was a knock of 109 off 128 balls, two seasons ago against Trinidad and Tobago, when he also counter-attacked brilliantly.
He said this aggressive approach had become his role in the Barbados team in recent years and he was now focussed on transferring it to the West Indies set-up, once given the opportunity.
“We have a set group of players and that is my role for the Barbados team. You have guys at the top that bat well and bat for long periods of time and my job is to come in and take over and counter-attack, and push that score from 250-300 as close to 400 as possible,” Brathwaite pointed out.
“It won’t work all the time but at international level – obviously I’ve been here for a short period of time – and watching international cricket and being around the set-up, the skill level is basically the same.
“It’s about confidence and the confidence to execute your skills and working hard enough to get those skills in good enough shape, that you are confident enough to execute them when the time is right.”
By CMC.