How Ireland made Carlos Brathwaite's West Indies career
A net bowling experience while a club pro helped Brathwaite earn international honours - or so the story goes
Carlos Brathwaite certainly knows his audience.
When asked to recently recall his two-year stint as a pro at Leinster CC in Dublin back in 2009, he said that spell was the making of his international career.
“To be honest, I think that helped me get into the West Indies team.”
Really? Trips to Subway in Rathmines really set off a chain of events which culminated in the 2016 T20 World Cup final? Ben Stokes all of a sudden has good reason to hate Observatory Lane.
It’s easy for the big time international to tell Irish people that his stint in their country made him the man he is today. Brathwaite is a broadcaster as well as a player these days. He’s back in Dublin this week to commentate on the West Indies tour. Like I said, he knows his audience.
But to be fair to the man who went on to hit four consecutive sixes to win a World Cup, he backed the platitudes. Actual evidence came in the form of an anecdote. Who are we, then, to argue?
While a younger man at Leinster, he was called in to net bowl at the visiting Australians. They played a lone ODI against Ireland at Clontarf in 2010. The connections made that day, so the story goes, helped Brathwaite make a breakthrough on a strong Barbados team. The West Indies followed.
“The video analyst for Australia, I can’t remember his name, he was umpiring and just watching,” recalls Brathwaite. “I was seaming the ball around, hitting the pad, nicking off, hitting the off stump.” Sounds like he has the Leinster CC groundsman to thank as well.
“He asked me, ‘How many First Class games have you played?’ I said, ‘None, I can’t make the Barbados team.’ He asked, ‘What’s your name? Otis Gibson is a personal friend of mine.’
“Otis Gibson was the head coach of the West Indies at the time. He said, ‘I’ll drop your name to Otis and tell him we’ve been very impressed with you. How you hit the deck, move the ball, your control, consistency of pace.’
“Fast forward to 2010, I made my Barbados debut in T20 cricket. Then in 2011, I went on to make my First Class debut and got the most wickets in the First Class tournament. And then I got called up for the West Indies white ball teams at the back end of that year. Otis said his friend had mentioned my name.
“Thank you, I can’t remember his name, but thank you.”
There are some great stories down the years of Irish clubbies bowling in the nets to some of the international greats. Given what Brathwaite went on to achieve, this certainly is up there with the most noteworthy.
As for the net bowling itself, Brathwaite remembers all the names who came out to face him. And those who didn’t. “I remember Ricky Ponting, I don’t know if he thought that the quality of net bowling wouldn’t be good, but he just went into the nets, put the bowling machine on like 65mph and was just leaving balls, defending balls, leaving balls. It was crazy.
“I was just like, ‘Why are you not setting your bowling machine to 70 and just smashing it to all parts? I remember asking one of the guys, obviously they come from Australia. ‘Well, big bounce, quick. You don’t want to get in a situation in England and Ireland where your hands are in front of your body.’
“His way of taking himself back, waiting really long and almost exaggerating leaving. Just blocking, no big drives, nothing, and he did that for two hours.
“Steve Smith and Tim Paine, they were almost sent as the guinea pigs, to go see what the pitch is like, what the net bowlers are like. I don’t know, maybe they had some scientific reason for it. We show up and show off a little bit, hit some stumps, made it uncomfortable for them.
“And then all of a sudden [Mike] Hussey came out to bat. Shane Watson padded up. Everyone wanted a little bit of this Irish net bowling side.”
The plucky Irish club lads putting it up to the Aussies. Carlos definitely knows what this particular crowd wants to hear.
Brathwaite was told this story while appearing on The Irish Cricket Podcast. To listen to the full chat, subscribe here or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Irish Cricket Podcast is also recording post-match reaction and analysis episodes after each Ireland international this summer, starting with the West Indies ODIs this week. To listen to these shows recorded live in Clontarf, subscribe here.