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In all likelihood, Darren Bravo’s 81 in the West Indies’ first innings score of 271 will be absorbed into the annals of history as just another handy score in just another Test innings scorecard.
But in the immediate term, it should be viewed on repeat by every young batsman in the Caribbean and set as a standard. ‘If you want to be a Test batsman, and if you want to be a part of the West Indies resurrection, this is what you’ll need to show us you’re capable of’ should be the accompanying message.
Coming off the back of a very impressive – but much more aggressive – first innings 108 in Hobart, Bravo repelled the Australian attack on Day 3 in Melbourne, fortifying himself as the mainstay of yet another disappointing top order showing in this series.
The Hobart innings lasted 254 minutes and 177 balls faced, and included 20 fours, and indeed, the West Indies’ first innings would’ve looked even more diabolical than it did had Bravo not dug in and showed some fight.
He came to the wicket in the ninth over, and fell at the end of the 70th over as the last wicket. His 108 represented just over 48per cent of the Windies’ first innings tally, and well eclipsed the combined total of his nine colleagues to bat (fast bowler Shannon Gabriel was unable to bat after picking up an ankle injury on the first day of the Test).
Similarly, in this first innings in Melbourne, Bravo kept the Australians at bay for 208 balls, an innings that lasted more than six hours at the crease. He scored around a third of the West Indies’ fighting total of 271, and faced a similar amount of the total balls bowled in the innings.
The time elapsed was the key component, and the element that made Bravo’s innings so important in the context of what could easily have been another underwhelming total. He came to the wicket in the second over after Tea on Day 2, and was again the last man dismissed in West Indies innings, which brought Tea on Day 3 in Melbourne.
Bravo’s 208 balls stretched from the 16th over of the innings through until he was out in the 101st over – more than 85 overs spent in the middle.
There was strange criticism in some quarters of his batting late on Day 2, and that he was batting too negatively, in reaching 13* from 75 balls by Stumps.
But in the context of what he was witness to from the non-strikers end – six of his teammates falling for 58 in the evening session, and the last three for one run over four overs – his stubborn resistance and patience was precisely what the West Indies needed at that point.
He carried this through to Day 3, too, happily.
Bravo made 22 from only 55 balls faced in the morning session on Monday, but played the perfect sheet anchor role as debutant allrounder Carlos Brathwaite had some fun at the expense of James Pattinson’s front foot. Twice.
Brathwaite and Bravo added 90 for the seventh wicket, when Brathwaite was out on Lunch for 59, and with the score 7/173. Considering there was genuine concern at the end of Day 2 that the Test might again be in for an early finish, 1/82 in the session was a very good, and much-needed fightback.
In the afternoon session, and with any and all hope of a prolonged innings resting entirely on him, Bravo made 46 from 74 balls in the afternoon session, and with some useful support from Kemar Roach, managed to add another 98 for the last three wickets.
Teammates who can hang around long enough with him grow in confidence with the bat. It’s just a crying shame those teammates don’t bat in the top six.
Bravo to date has 193 runs in three innings for the series, while his five other top order colleagues have 215 between them. In 15 innings. And that includes Kraigg Brathwaite’s 94 in Hobart.
The West Indies’ most experienced top order batsmen, Denesh Ramdin and the entirely uninspiring Marlon Samuels, both have the same deplorable series record – 12 runs at 4.
Already trailing by 459 going into Day 4, the West Indies can forget about winning the Test.
However, their top order could do a lot worse than observe the patience and determination to keep a high value on his wicket that Bravo has shown in this series. He’s the only one providing the way forward for West Indian batsmen at the minute.