Dubai: Kraig Brathwaite, the West Indies Under-19 cricketer, who performed brilliantly at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Global Academy cricket grounds against Australia's Under-19 team at the Dubai Sport City international cricket stadium last week, has been selected into the West Indies Test squad against Pakistan.
“We are delighted that one of the cricketers who made a mark from the grounds in the academy has made it to the West Indies team.
"The Under-19 tournament between West Indies and Australia was a huge success and it is nice to see players who stood out in the tournament being considered for the national teams,” remarked Ekta Hutton, the General Manager of the ICC Global Cricket Academy to Gulf News.
“Tony Howard, the Director of Cricket of the West Indies Cricket Board is keen to play another tournament at the academy. We are in the process of organising an Under-19 tournament for full members as lead up to the Under-19 World Cup,” added Hutton.
Eighteen-year-old Brathwaite hit an unbeaten 168 in the first innings and followed it with a knock of 48 runs in the second innings against Australia in the first Youth Test at the Global Cricket Academy ground.
In the third One-dayer against Australia, Brathwaite hit 74 runs in West Indies total of 177.
“There were some outstanding performers like Brathwaite, Kavem Hodge and Amir Khan from West Indies. Cameron Bancroft from Australia was outstanding. The Australia and West Indies team management were delighted with the facilities here.
"We provided diverse playing conditions by scheduling matches on Australian and Pakistan pitches. They also trained on English pitches and played one match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium under lights,” said Hutton.
“We are now expecting women’s teams from full member nations to train here before the Twenty20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka next year.
"Many full member nations ‘A’ teams will also be training at the academy and using the grounds. We are delighted that the benefits of our academy are reaching out to different countries and are helping the process of unearthing future Test stars,” she said.
