Bravo pleased with Jam Zone Masters’ Cup ton

Aug 20, 2011 Sports

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Reaffirms commitment to West Indies cricket

 

By Sean Devers
Twenty-seven year-old West Indies all rounder Dwayne ‘Jonny’ Bravo is a true Trini at heart. He loves to party hard and enjoy life but he is also very serious about his cricket career and representing the millions of West Indian fans on the field.
The talented Bravo who helped the Chennai Super Kings to this year’s IPL title in India was in Guyana last weekend as one of the overseas internationals for the inaugural Masters’ Cup t20 cricket competition at the Guyana National Stadium.
The energetic right-hander from Santa Cruz in Trinidad made 22 in the semi-finals on Friday night as his team, the Hits and Jams All Stars, which included Chris Gayle, Andrew Russell and Danza Hyatt, lost to eventual Champions universal DVD Berbice Titians.
Already with a recorded single with Jamaica’s Dancehall Super Star Bennie Man and Guyanese Tameka Marshall on the music shelves, Bravo performed on stage at the Jam Zone International night which featured Americans R&B singer Trey Songz and Rapper and actress Eve.

While the crowd loved Bravo the singer, whose imitations of Bennie Man was highly entertaining, it was Bravo the cricketer the over 16,000 spectators had paid to see perform in the third place play-off on Sunday.
Many fans were at the after concert party on Saturday at the team’s five-star Hotel where Bravo, Gayle and Russell enjoyed themselves on stage. After the late night partying the fans were not going to take kindly to an ordinary performance from Bravo whose main reason of being in Guyana was for the cricket.
Bravo, who has three centuries from his 40 Tests, eight First-Class tons, one from 117 ODIs and a strike rate of 123 and two fifties in 22 t20 Internationals is a showman and loves the attention of his fans.
After some rest on Sunday to recharge his batteries and re-focus on the cricket Bravo, who has not played a Test since December last year after being allowed to miss the home Test series against Pakistan and India to play in the IPL, was in riveting form.His classy 106 for the Hits and Jams All Stars had the packed house eating out of his hands and showed why on his day and in top form he is easily the best all-rounder in the region.
In recent times Bravo, who made his Test debut at Lord’s in July 2004 and took three wickets in the first innings with his medium-pace and also batted well, has not produced as expected and he took a break from the game to re-energize and work on his game after the second ODI in Trinidad in June.
There is no doubting Bravo’s talent and by the end of his first Test series, West Indies were in tatters, but in Bravo, they had found an unpolished gem.
Like most West Indians, Bravo loves to ‘fete’ but he says he has worked hard on his game from the under-15 level coming up and is mature enough not to waste his hard work and talent by overindulging socially.
When asked at the press conference the day before the Jam Zone Masters’ Cup began if he was thinking of becoming a performing artist he said he was an International cricketer and that was what he was focusing on.
“I am a cricketer who loves to sing and perform and its great to actually record a song with one of the legends of Dance Hall music but at this point I have no intentions of getting into the music industry since my aim is to try and help the West Indies regain past glory and produce consistent performances on
the field for the West Indian supporters,” Bravo said. With eight First-Class centuries and seven five wicket hauls Bravo knows he still has a big role to play in West Indies cricket heading up to the 2015 World Cup.
“My passion and commitment to West Indies cricket has not changed and I, like all West Indian fans hope that all the off-the-field controversy can be sorted out and everyone can work together to see our cricket back at the top. I think I still have a role to play,” Bravo said.
“This Jam Zone Masters’ Cup century is just the start of what I hope will be great things from me as I prepare for the Champions League and getting back into the West Indies team and playing my part,” Bravo added.
The dynamic all-rounder made his First-Class debut for Trinidad and Tobago as a teenager in 2002 and scored his maiden First-Class hundred a month later and was selected for the West Indies ‘A’ team for their tour of England the same year.
In early 2003 he scored another century but it was a spell of bowling in which he took 6-11 against the Windward Islands that brought him to prominence as an all-rounder.
Bravo has had his share of injury problems. In 2008 an ankle injury ruled him out for eight months while he was forced out of this year’s World Cup due to a knee injury when he slipped at the wicket while bowling against South African.
“I am feeling stronger now and back to full fitness. I am enjoying the game and the massive crowd in Guyana for the Jam Zone (Masters’ Cup) t20 and the passion and atmosphere on Sunday night was a huge inspiration to go out there and do well. My century was really a thank you to the fans for coming out in such large numbers at a time when our cricket is not at its strongest…this shows the love for the game is still there from the fans. They are behind us and we the players are working hard to repay them with good performances,” Bravo said.
“Cricket is our career and of course we deserve to be treated properly as professionals but I can say that while some feel all the players care about is money that is far from the truth. I enjoy playing for Trinidad and Tobago, the West Indies and the other teams I represent around the world because I love what I do…. be it batting, bowling or fielding,” Bravo revealed.
Bravo’s Jam Zone Masters’ Cup hundred could be just the tonic needed for the hyper-active IPL winner to return to top form for a West Indies team which has not won a Test series since they beat England at home in 2009.

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