Barbados Today article.
International Cricket Council’s Twenty20 World Cup Final hero Carols Brathwaite is extremely happy to be back on his Barbados home soil.
Speaking with Barbados TODAY this afternoon at the Three W’s Oval, Brathwaite explained that since the World Cup which ended three months ago he has relived that glorious over when he smashed England fast bowler Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes to win the final at Eden Gardens.
The 27-year-old explained that it has always been his wish to win a World Cup for West Indies but never actually thought it would have become reality and the fact that he has done it will always be something special in his memory.
However the six-footer said he did not intend to let that be the only highlight of his career and now has his eye set on helping West Indies cricket reach the top three of ICC rankings in both the 50 overs and Test cricket.
“I would not want the World Cup to be the only feat of my career because that would mean I would have stagnated. One of my dreams is to bring West Indies cricket back to the top or as close as possible in fifty over and Test cricket and if we do what we are supposed to, then I can be a part of that renaissance of West Indies cricket,” he said.
Like so many other Combermerians including West Indies vice-captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Shane Dowrich, Brathwaite is happy to be coached once again by Roddy Estwick.
He said: “It is good having coach Roddy on the team at this point in time because he is trying to change my bowling action and initially he was the person that suggested it earlier in my career. But subsequently I put those changes on hold back then but when I went to Delhi this year TA Sekara was the bowling coach, a very knowledgeable guy, who helped me a lot.
So being able to go from Roddy to Sekara was amazing and I was also able to liaise with Roddy while I was in Indian as well. So I am now able to come back from Delhi and resume work with Roddy to improve my bowling to where I want it to be.”
Brathwaite has captained West Indies “B” Team and asked about perhaps captaining West Indies senior team sometime in the future, he explained it would be a huge honour and an opportunity he would grab with both hands. But he stressed that at this stage his focus was to help the regional side improve on the international stage.
“I think the most successful teams are the ones with a lot of leaders. So I try to be a leader myself and regardless of if I am captain or not, whichever team I play for I want to bring some aspect of leadership to my game whether bowling, batting, fielding. I want to be one of those persons that one of the guys in the team can come to and ask for suggestions, run a query by me for certain situations, so in that respect I want to be a leader and I think I have been doing that thus far.
“Another thing is that good leaders breed leaders. So I can then finish my career and seek one or two guys that played with me and they can come along and if they can come along and say ‘Carlos Brathwaite help me in this regard’ then I would feel like I have accomplished something,” Brathwaite said.
First Published In The Barbados Today.