Test previews 
/ Richard O’Hagan / 08 April 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Brathwaite builds runs against the Aussie attack
"Only 19, Kraigg Brathwaite wasn't even born when Geoffrey Boycott played his last innings, yet no player of recent years more closely replicates the Yorkshireman's 'defence first' approach to cricket than Brathwaite does."
The big-hitting big names of recent West Indies teams have gone and in their place are a collection of more nuanced individuals - and that makes the home team an interesting bet for Richard O'Hagan during their current series against Australia
Once upon a time a Test series between the West Indies and Australia would have been a battle to the death (almost literally) between the two best sides in the world.
The three Test series which began in Jamaica yesterday, however, finds both sides in a state of transition. Australia have slipped to third in the world, while their hosts have never yet recovered from Brian Lara's retirement five years ago, let alone the departures of other illustrious players over the past decade.
In many respects Kraigg - yes, that is the correct spelling - Brathwaite is an atypical West Indian player. Over the years their home crowds have become accustomed to dashing strokeplay, from the formidable years of Viv Richards et al, when teams (including Australia) would simply be steamrollered on the hard, fast, Caribbean pitches, to more recent times. Those recent times - of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and latterly Kieron Pollard - have been the 'boom and bust' years, of players frenetically chasing runs and innings after innings ending in inevitable collapse.
Those players are now gone, chasing (for better or worse) the IPL dollar.
In Gayle's place has come Brathwaite, a player less like the stereotypical West Indian than you could possibly imagine. Still only 19, he wasn't even born when Geoffrey Boycott played his last innings, yet no player of recent years more closely replicates the Yorkshireman's 'defence first' approach to cricket than Brathwaite does. In seven Tests (imagine playing seven Tests before you turn 20) his strike rate is barely two runs an over. That's a full run per over less than that other famous Caribbean limpet, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Yesterday, Brathwaite faced 199 balls for his 57 runs, a thorn so firmly in the Australian side that Michael Clarke got through seven bowlers and 67 overs before he was the third West Indian to fall.
Around him were three other players who represent the future of West Indian cricket. Adrian Barath seems to have a firm grip on the other opening spot despite the odd moment of gullibility such as falling for the legside trap that saw him dismissed for 22 yesterday. Kirk Edwards has the ability to mix calmness with aggression at number three and Darren Bravo, whose entire career has been not so much saddled with comparisons to his cousin Lara as hog-tied by them, now averages over 52 at this level. Between them they took the score to 179-3 before rain brought an early halt to the day.
There was not a lot to cheer for the Australians. Asked to field after Darren Sammy won the toss, their bowling attack was so toothless that Clarke had to call upon the part-time leg-spin of opener David Warner long before tea. Although he broke the century partnership between Brathwaite and Edwards, it was with a ball so bad that Edwards seemed surprised and simply mishit it.
It could be another long day in the field for the visitors today and odds of [2.2] on a score of more than 375 look very good indeed.
The Windies remain the [6.8] outsiders to win this Test. If they can build upon their good start they will feel that their bowling attack, based more on raw pace than the line-and-length merchants the Australians have gone for, gives them a good chance of bowling out their opponents twice on this batsman-friendly pitch.
More importantly for the long term future of the game in the Caribbean, a win over Australia will lead to increased faith in this new look, new style, team.
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