‘It’s about guiding the younger players’ – Bravo’s experience shows West Indies the way

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T20 stalwart reveals he taught Edwards the slower variation that dismissed Finch in the chase

“It was always in the team plan if we bat first and we lose early wickets for me to go in and control the innings with the bat – it’s more my style of play,” he told the host broadcaster. “Pick up the ones and twos, lay that solid platform for the likes of Russell, Fabian, Pooran, if Polly is in the squad, to do what they have to do in the back end.”

He did admit, though, to realising the batting power that was still to come. “I must be honest, at some point I was trying get out at the back end to allow Russell and these guys to finish off,” he said.

As Hetmyer cut loose in the latter part of the innings – turning 14 off 13 balls into 61 off 36 – Bravo had the best seat in the house.

“We needed partnerships and the way Hetmyer batted in the first game and into this game, it’s just a pleasure to see him bat,” Bravo said. “He’s a batting leader in our group, we gave him the responsibility to take control of the batting and show some maturity. We all know how classy he is and how dangerous he can be, [the advice was] just to bat deep, it’s a ground that has a big wind factor advantage.

“It’s just about guiding the younger players: Hety, Pooran, Obed McCoy, Hayden Walsh…that’s the kind of information we keep feeding to these younger players.”

In the field, Bravo remains very solid – notwithstanding one missed chance running from short third man – and while he claimed the late wicket of Dan Christian, his most significant contribution was not obvious on the scorecard.

“Two days ago I teach him how to do it,” Bravo revealed. “I said, you have the perfect action to bowl a different slower ball. I let him stand about five feet away from me and said Fidel, all you have to do with your action is sling the ball like this with pace but he didn’t have the confidence to do it in a game. So I said to him do a few in a practice. I said do it [in the game], nothing wrong with trying, so for me to see him have success I’m happy.”