Dwayne Bravo

Three ways in which we’ve been right in the last 24 hours

This is quite unusual. We’re not usually right about stuff. Normally, you can ask us questions about things that have happened to us and we’ll get the answers wrong.

“Did Dan tell you he was moving to Australia?”

“No!” [Long pause] “Don’t think so.” [Another long pause] “Well, maybe…”

1. Dwayne Bravo – 104 v Australia
2. Mohammad Asif – 4-40 v New Zealand
3. Mahendra Dhoni – 100 not out v Sri Lanka

Maybe we’re only wrong when being right relies on the retention of information.

The five best all-rounders over the next five years

Not sure we’ve got Imran Khan or Garry Sobers on the cards, but it’s not looking bad.

Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh, age 22

As a cricket-writer, we’re worried there’ll be no words left in a few years time, because they’ll all have been eaten by Bangladesh criticisers. Shakib Al Hasan will make people backtrack until they’ve returned to the womb. He is the best one-day all-rounder in the world and he is 22. He is not going to get any worse at any point in the next decade. Dwell on that.

Dwayne Bravo, West Indies, 26

Played a bit. Been solid. Time to push on, Dwayne.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India, 28

The most dangerous batsmen are those who can destroy an attack but don’t feel that they have to. For Dhoni it’s all about the runs. He’ll get them in singles, he’ll get them in ugly works to leg. He doesn’t care. He also doesn’t care about his average. He just wants to win matches.

Matt Prior, England, 27

No, seriously. Matt Prior has been one of the best batsmen in England for quite a while and being as everyone seems to have gone a bit quiet about his keeping, that must be acceptable as well. Despite his hairline, he’s actually 27. He could prove a very important player in the next few years.

Stuart Broad, England, 23

Don’t talk him up? Tough shit. We’re starting to believe that he can bowl, which is the main thing, while he’s got bags of time to sort out the batting, which has largely been okay anyway.

Dwayne Bravo makes amends and ushers Trinidad and Tobago into the Champions League Twenty20 final

In the second Champions League Twenty20 semi final, Trinidad and Tobago’s Dwayne Bravo took 0-46 off three well-spanked overs against Cape Cobras. No matter. He promptly hit 58 off 34 balls to help T&T waltz home. The Dwayne Bravo off-side thock made a couple of appearances.

In many ways this was classic Dwayne Bravo. He approaches everything with such gusto that humiliations are shrugged off before they’ve had a chance to attach themselves to him.

Put Dwayne Bravo in a pair of clown trousers filled with custard and enter him in a 100m race and he’d win. He wouldn’t even notice.

Dwayne Bravo – does anyone not like him?

Let’s have a quick show of hands. There can’t be many people who don’t like Dwayne Bravo.

When West Indies beat India on Friday, Bravo took 4-38 and then spanked 66 off 36 balls and most people will have been pretty pleased that he was the player making the difference. We’ve identified three main reasons for Bravo’s appeal.

1. The name It’s not a great name in the same way that Lendl Simmons is a great name. It’s still good though, particularly when it appeared on the same team sheet as Tino Best.
2. The off-drive When people talk about playing across the line, they usually mean an ugly heave to the legside. Dwayne Bravo plays a ludicrous inside-out drive into the offside, playing across the line of the ball. That he makes contact at all is a small miracle. That his body can make the awkward movement look so smooth is a larger miracle.
3. Enthusiasm In a side featuring Chris Gayle’s studied indifference and Fidel Edwards’ send-offs, Dwayne Bravo’s unselfconscious yelping, face-pulling and jumping about is hugely endearing. He doesn’t care if he looks undignified. He really, really doesn’t care. Never before has a tendency to fall over quite a lot been such a winning attribute.