Caribbean Cricket Podcast · Machel St Patrick Hewitt

Kraigg Braithwaite 100 and out

·32 min·1 clip

After 100 tests, Craig Brathwaite is having an unprecedented down bad performance

The hosts open with the series score: West Indies are 2-0 down to Australia. From there, they challenge the reflexive verdict that this makes the series terrible. Their point is that a lot of the criticism comes from a batter-centric way of judging Test cricket, even when conditions and bowling are doing plenty of damage. Bathwaite soon becomes the centre of gravity. The pair talk through his place in the West Indies plans, how the coaching change around the Test side may have accelerated a possible exit, and why retirement is now part of the discussion. The bigger issue, though, is the lack of a clear next opener. They bring up Louis as a short-term option, but not a long-term answer, and ask what West Indies are supposed to do when they tour India or New Zealand. Their answer is blunt: there are very few obvious alternatives, and the long-term route has to come through the academy. They imagine a younger opener being groomed with enough first-class cricket to be ready in the mid-20s, rather than expecting an immediate fix. Until then, they say, the team is basically trying combinations and seeing what sticks. The episode ends as it begins: analytical, frustrated, and focused on what West Indies cricket can realistically build next.

As heard by us

A blunt West Indies selection debate that keeps circling one uncomfortable opening question.

Braithwaite's place in the West Indies future gives the conversation its center, while the larger issue stays familiar: who should open when the options are thin and the side is already 2-0 down to Australia. Mashal St.

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Why you'd press play

You want the real argument over Braithwaite, not a neat retirement tribute.

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