West Indies’ opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite has called on the expertise of legendary opener Desmond Haynes to help to rediscover his lost form ahead of the three-match Test series against England to be held at bio-secures venues next month.
The 27-year-old has been struggling with the bat, averaging 33.3 in his last 20 Test innings, while his glorious performance back in 2017 – twin scores of 134 and 95 that helped West Indies pull off a famous win at Leeds in Headingley was his last best performance.
Since his Leeds’ heroics, Kraigg has not made a Test fifty for nearly two years, but now the opener is keen to put Haynes’ advice to his game, as he raring to go against England in their three-Test series, beginning at the Ageas Bowl on July 8 behind closed doors.
Brathwaite said in a conference call from West Indies' training base at Old Trafford, “I had some words with Desmond Haynes back in Barbados. Me and him always had a good relationship because he was a team manager for the Barbados team when I first started, so I had some chats with him. He was obviously an opener as well and that's been very beneficial to me.”
He further added about words with the legend that proved beneficial for him in his early career, “A lot of it is keeping it simple, you don't really want to complicate it too much. It's just simple advice, just about what he did back in the day. Three hours left in a day is always a tough period for an opener or an hour. So, it's just mental stuff that he helped me with... he was very strong mentally.”
The opener continued, “It was a lot about keeping it simple, not over-complicating things too much. Spending time is crucial in Test cricket and it's important for any batsman. We've got to buckle down and show discipline. Discipline can carry you a long way in Test cricket as a whole and particularly playing in England when the ball is moving. If you can be disciplined for the whole day, not just half an hour or an hour, I think that will lay a platform for big runs.”
Brathwaite also insisted he doesn’t want to look back at his brilliant display when he last toured England three years ago, as he is just focusing on the job at his hand presently to do well in the upcoming series.
The right-hander added, “That was almost three years ago. Looking back at stuff I did I can obviously see things I did well, but that's history. I have a current job to do here and I'm ready, I'm raring to go.”
He signed off by saying, “I'm up for the challenge... I know all the guys here can do well. I'm starting the innings and I'm just going to do my job, it's as simple as that. I know we have a good batting line-up and everyone's ready and raring to go, so no added pressure really.”
(With AFP Inputs)
