TRAILBLAZER

Veteran all-rounder Dwayne “DJ” Bravo has been hailed as a “trailblazer” and one of the finest players of his era, after bringing his international career to a close after West Indies were eliminated from the T20 World Cup recently.

The 38-year-old all-rounder announced he would retire following West Indies final Group match against Australia and came in for widespread praise in the wake of the outing, which saw the Caribbean side slump to a heavy defeat.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) praised Bravo’s contribution to the game, pointing out the Trinidadian had evolved to become “one of the world’s leading white-ball death bowlers and a valuable member for the next generation of West Indies players.”

President Ricky Skerrit, under whose tenure Bravo returned in 2019 following a 15-month retirement stint, said the former One-Day captain had also “added value to all levels of West Indies cricket.”

Geoff Alkardice, acting chief executive of cricket’s world governing body, the International Cricket Council, said “Dwayne has been an outstanding cricketer of his generation, who has been popular with fans the world over.”

Bravo finished with 78 wickets from 91 T20 Internationals, while taking 553 wickets and scoring 6,627 runs from 512 matches overall.

Bravo won three ICC tournaments with the West Indies team — 50 Over Champions Trophy (2004) and two T20 World Cups (2012) and (2016).