New Zealand’s Kerr, Devine to miss first England T20I
New Zealand's Melie Kerr and Sophie Devine will be unavailable for the opening match of the women's T20I series against England at the University of Otago Oval on Tuesday.
West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has said that coming to bat at No.5 was in the game plan to control the innings in the second T20I against Australia that the hosts won by 59 runs.
Bravo came ahead of Andre Russell, Nicholas Pooran and Fabian Allen, and made 47 runs off 34 balls and play a major role in a 103-run partnership with Shimron Hetmyer (67).
“It was always in the team plan [that] if we bat first and we lose early wickets for me to go in and control the innings with the bat. It’s more my style of play — pick up the ones and twos, lay that solid platform for the likes of Russell, Fabian, Pooran, if Polly is in the squad, to do what they have to do in the back end,” Bravo said in a post-match interaction with the broadcasters.
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Bravo admitted of the might in the batting order after him. “I must be honest, at some point I was trying to get out at the back end to allow Russell and these guys to finish off,” he said.
The veteran all-rounder opined that a partnership was the need of the hour at 59/3. He found the perfect ally in Hetmyer, who raced from 14 off 13 balls to a career-best 61 off 36 balls.
“It’s just about guiding the younger players Hetty, Pooran, Obed McCoy, Hayden Walsh (Jr). That’s the kind of information we keep feeding to these younger players. We needed partnerships and the way Hetmyer batted in the first game and into this game, it’s just a pleasure to see him bat,” said Bravo.
“He’s a batting leader in our group, we gave him the responsibility to take control of the batting and show some maturity. We all know how classy he is and how dangerous he can be.”
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