Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo still on selection radar, confirms chief selector Desmond Haynes

West Indies batters Nkrumah Bonner and Darren Bravo have been dropped from the upcoming Test tour of South Africa. The two-match Test series is slated to begin on February 28 at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. Bonner has been given the assurance that he has not been discarded but did not get selected. The same thing was told to Bravo as well but he was also ignored.

Bonner has had a lean patch in recent months. The 34-year-old batter's average was 10 for last five Tests that he played. Meanwhile, the left-hander Bravo, also 34, has not played in the longest format in over two years. However, he struck a century in each inning of the last round of matches in the Regional First Class Championship recently. 

The chief selector of the Cricket West Indies, Desmond Haynes, on Thursday, confirmed that both players remain on the selection radar for the forthcoming Test schedules of the West Indies.

“Obviously, Bonner struggled a little bit in the last couple of Test matches that he has played, and we believe we would like to see Bonner come back and play some more first-class games here in the Caribbean and then get ready for India who are coming in June,” Haynes said.

“When someone is left out of the side, the first impression that comes to one’s mind is that you’re done with somebody. But I had a conversation – not only myself but [fellow selector] Roland (Butcher) – we had a conversation with Bonner and we explained to him the reason why he’s not been selected to go to South Africa," he added.

“I called Bravo to congratulate him on the two hundreds that he scored. I think that Bravo has proven that he can play cricket at the highest level and it’s just a matter of if we can get the guys if they’re committed and they really want to play. But Bravo is a class act.

He had a period where he just lost his form and so forth, but we know that Bravo is good enough to make runs at this level, and we will continue to monitor Bravo’s progress as we go along in this four-day competition,” he concluded.

The 34-year-old Bonner was one of the leading batters of the Caribbean side. In 2021, he hit his maiden Test hundred along with three half-centuries. Bravo, on the other hand, was dropped in 2020 as he failed to perform well following his 30-month-long break. Instead of them, selectors opted for the uncapped 24-year-old batter Alick Athanaze for the two-match series starting next week.

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