“To be honest, we knew it was coming”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has admitted that he was not surprised when he was excluded from the World Cup squad.
In fact, Bravo revealed that he and fellow all-rounder Kieron Pollard laughed when chief selector Clive Lloyd told them that they would not be representing the West Indies in the World Cup.
“We actually laughed when he said it to us. To be honest, we knew it was coming,” Bravo told ESPNcricinfo. “We know the type of people in charge of our cricket are actually mature enough to make sensible decisions and the right decisions for the benefit of cricket.
“If we had got selected we actually would have been surprised. We expected it. There was nothing that shocked us.
“The explanation that they gave us was too many all-rounders or they want to try young players, whatever the case might be… Kieron Pollard is 27, I am 31. Also as far as our form was concerned, as I said, the last 12 months I had been West Indies’ best player. So to be left out with those explanations, obviously, all we could have done is laugh. It was a big joke.”
Bravo also pointed out that the national selectors and West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) should be ashamed of the fact that they went into the World Cup with the mindset that the national team were going to lose.
“Another World Cup come, finish. They (were) happy with their decision. They were prepared not to win this World Cup,” he said. “It is a shame that before the World Cup even started, they were already prepared to lose and look forward to building for the next World Cup, whereas in the last three years we were building for this World Cup. But it is all water under the bridge now. I am not someone to hold on to anything.”
Meanwhile, Bravo also confirmed that he has no intention to start playing Test cricket again.
“No. There is a lot more that needs to be changed in order for me to even think of coming back into Test cricket,” he said. “At the moment I am happy with my decision and I don’t see it changing anytime soon unless something drastic changes.”