 That's the question from ex-Windy's captain Dwayne Bravo, who is puzzled yet unsurprised at the non-selection of his younger brother, Daryl Bravo, for the upcoming one-day international series against England, starting December 3 in Antigua and the Barbuda. The champion took to social media shortly after the squad was made public on Monday to express his displeasure with his brother's omission and cricket westerlies on a whole. In a press conference on Monday, lead selector Desmond Haynes spoke on Daryl Bravo's omission. Yeah, I think that it was a very tough decision for us to make as a panel. Daryl has proven not only this year but last year as well in the silver 50 tournament to be somebody who performed well at this level, but we have invested in players like Alex Santanez and Casey Carty and we just figured that selecting this team, we also had to take into consideration that World Cup 2027 is something that we've got in mind. And we believe that we have invested in these players and we believe that we should give them the opportunity playing against a very strong England side and that's the reason why Daryl has been omitted. All right, let's take a quick look at the squad that has been named. To face England, Shea Hope as the captain, Alzarri Joseph as the vice-captain, Alec Atenaz, Yannick Carrier, Casey Carty, Roston Chase, Shane Dalrich, Matthew Ford, Shamran Hetmeier, Brandon King, Gurukesh Moti, Kianatli, Sherfinn Rathafad, Romario Shepard and Oshane Zamas. Well, joining us on the Sportsmax Zone once again is Dwayne Bravo. Good afternoon, Bravo. Yeah, good afternoon. All right, a pleasure to have you on the Sportsmax Zone. I know this time you join us on Zoom, but nevertheless, it's always a pleasure to be chatting with you. Let's start. Let's get to the meat of the matter, your brother, Daryl. Daryl Bravo, not being selected for the windy squad despite topping the runs in the Joss Concluded Super 50. Well, yeah, obviously I just listened to the interview, the chairman just read out there and, you know, this is a, I would say this is a song I hear before, you know, whenever a selector fully well know that what the decision that they make by leaving out a player, not based on performance or on something else that they can't really say to the public, I don't know what it is. They sing that song, you know, we're looking to build for the next World Cup, we're looking to move on and invest in younger players. You know, I think it's time people come clean. I mean, the chairman is a highly respected person in West Indies cricket, and I just think that is not good enough, you know. It's sad it happened to my brother. I could speak on personal experience as well, it happened to me. Well, Mr. Lloyd did the same thing. You know, I was dropped at 31, age 31, offered a one-day team and then it picked someone who was older than me. So I think these messages, these wrong messages that keep sending to the public is just need to stop. So that is just my take on it. It's unfortunate. And like I said, I don't agree with it, but it is what it is. Again, they speak about making way for younger players and then I instantly, and not to dismiss or disregard Keonok Lee's performance at all, because of course, he was great in the Super 50, we have to admit that. But I think about, of course, I started googling the ages of all the players and he's 33. So I can't understand the difference and maybe you can help me because you've kept in West Indies for some time, Duane, you've been around the setup. And a lot of the players speak about you as a motivational person now. So Keonok Lee gets the call up, he's 33 years of age. So what's that about? As I said, they keep giving these information to the public and using these age factor as the reason of why we head into the next direction may be for sympathy, but it just doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense because like I said, what is the difference between a player who is 32, 33 and 34? There's not much of a difference. And we've been through this same scenario in previous years before. Again, I highlight the scenario with myself. And Paulard for the 2015 World Cup. In 2014, I was the captain of the team. Paulard was the vice captain. And a few months before the World Cup, both of us were drunk. And Mr. Lloyd gave us the same explanation. We looked into Bill for the next World Cup, which was 2019. We looked into moving to the next direction. And then you pick players who are older than us and then same age with us. So I just think the pettiness and the lies need to stop. People need to be mature enough to give the right explanation of what is the real reason players don't get selected. It cannot do based on performance because you can see my brother, not only the last two years, the last four years, if you go back and check his performance in the last four years in Super 50, he has been one of the leading players. So, you know, again, Mr. Hayes needs to come better than that. And the people deserve better than that. Do we have a couple of questions? Let's dig down a little bit deeper on that because something that Desmond Hayes said about at the regional level, Darren has done really well. And no one can question that. Anybody who questions that is delusional are absolutely insane. But let's dig a little bit deeper because in his last 13, one day internationals, this is at the higher level now against teams like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, India and Australia. He has three centuries. Well, not in the last 30 matches. In the last 30 matches, he's had one century against Sri Lanka. And of course, a 39 and a 37, not out. But against India and Australia, his scores reached 16-8, 10-2, not 18-18-1, and 19. Could it be that the selectors are looking at that inconsistency at the higher level while they didn't consider him for selection this time around? Well, I'm sure he's not the only player who has an inconsistent performance at the higher level. When the bridge gets from local to international, I can guarantee that without even looking at the stats. But when you look at players in the Caribbean, not only Darren, a lot of players struggle at the international level because they're not given the time and the amount of game time to really catch and feed and catch themselves. We have to understand a lot of us started playing early. In 2021, I said, okay, they are ready for international cricket. When really and truly, as players, as batsmen, you really start to material at 28-30. And in West Indies cricket, those are the age where people start to say, okay, it's time to move on from this player. Darren had a very good start to his international career, and I'm sure you can agree with that. He was like it to Brand Lara. Exactly. He had a very good start. And that's from all four months. Test cricket won the international and I think the incident that happened with the former president a few years ago obviously led to Darren being banned for two years from international cricket. So on his return, it wasn't his best, but I think this is where man management comes in. If Darren was surrounded by a system or by players or by coaches that can actually help him get back to that level that we once saw him before, I think he will definitely be producing what his true potential shows. And again, it's not only about Darren. So many players get bad treatment in West Indies and a lot of people just look at the end result. Oh, he's not performing. Do we ask why they are not performing? Are we providing these players with the tools to perform to the best of their ability? I don't think so. We grow up in average facilities. We practice in average facilities playing average gongs and near one player to produce high class performances. So it's after Adam. Let me ask you this. I mean, you are from a country that has produced a raft of quality players for the West Indies in the last couple of decades. Yourself, Kieran Pollard, Ramdin, Ram Narain, the name list is as long as my arm. What is it that Trinidad does differently from the rest of the Caribbean? Why is it that they're able to produce more consistently than other countries? Perhaps Barbida has been the only exception, but rather better than other territories. And could that formula be then transferred to the other territories to bring about that kind of consistency from the other territories as well? Well, that's a good question. Trinidad and Tobago cricket is strong because of a couple reasons. A lot of people think we have very good infrastructure. We have good facilities. It's better than some of the other Caribbean islands. Yes, but not to take much credit, but I think the fact that myself, Pollard, and Sunil Narain to a lesser extent, we were exposed to play cricket outside. So we play big bash. We play in England. We get the IPL and stuff. We get the opportunities to see what it's like to have a strong system and good facilities. So when we come back and play for Trinidad, we try to implement it into our system and in our culture. So we challenge whether it's on a board level, whether it's from captaincy level, we lead from the front. We try to implement these things that we see outside and bring it into our cricket as simple thing as having a full-time physio, having a full-time strength and condition trainer, massage therapist. These are things we were never accustomed to even when we start playing. A lot of times, myself and Pollard dip in our own pocket to have a massage therapist or physio available for us. Facilities is very important. We gain most of our experience playing outside. All we wanted to do is to come back home and pass on those experiences that we gained from outside. So an example, the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, all these players I was telling to my manager a few days ago that when I played Big Bash, back then these guys were Finch players. They were on the bench. And now you see where they are today in their cricket. Look at the difference when you see the likes of Kane Williamson, Trent Bolt and all these guys who play on the 19 World Cup along with other players. And you see how fast they cricket excel. And our own players don't reach that far. It has to do with structure, facilities, right? Things in place. We don't have that. Trinidad is the best in the Caribbean. And then we have players who play outside. So when we come back home, we implement those same infrastructure and those same discipline and we'll get into our programs. And the players follow. Yeah. And you say that, right? You're talking about playing your trade elsewhere and of course bringing what you learn back into the Western East setup, let's say, or for your country. You know, and this is no secret, many selectors and many fans and, you know, those governing cricket always has pushed the narrative that a lot of the players would rather go after the money because you spoke about learning, benefiting from the training from all these T20 and T10 and bringing it back. But there is the narrative and you have to agree that the players choose these big leagues and abandon West Indies cricket. Talk to me about that. Well, we hate all the time. And obviously it's sad that, you know, that's how people think. When I speak, I can clearly speak for myself. That's never the case with me because I remember early on in my career, again, go back to Big Bash. Those days, there was no CPL, there were Caribbean T20, our local one. And I used to leave Big Bash. Just to come back home and play for Trinidad and Tobago in our domestic tournament and leave thousands of dollars. In Big Bash in Australia, to come back and represent Trinidad and Tobago. So the money thing is like, so when I see it, I just smile. A lot of the times when I, when you see me do play in those leagues is because I was not selected, right? So therefore, if I'm not selected for international cricket, I will get offers to play anywhere in the world. So, and that's the goal that I shoot. Like the last time I played test cricket was I was 26 years old. Well, do you think that was my decision to stop playing test cricket at 26? No. I was dropped. I will, and I will challenge anybody in the system former captain, coaches, whoever was involved at that time to say something else. At 31, I was dropped off for the one day team. So what, what, what should I do when I'm dropped from the West Indies team? Come back home and play regional cricket? No. I go and I am a cricketer. I'm a professional cricketer. And if I'm in high demands outside, I will go and make my living and earn my money because that's what a cricketer should do. And not only a cricketer, any athlete, any person should make sure that they secure the self financially. That's very important because there's life after cricket. So, but I never, ever once say no to West Indies cricket and go and play at tournament, never, ever. And point taken, but that's, that's your specific situation. But can you say the same for others? Because we've seen, I can say the same, I can say the same for others because, okay, let me finish the question because there have been instances doing where players have been selected and made themselves unavailable for West Indies cricket. But then they're playing in the leagues and look, I understand the dynamics of it because sports careers are short. And you have to make as much money as you can, because you don't know what's around the corner in terms of financial security. The reality is, you know, so you're going to have to play, you're going to play those leagues and you're going to make that money. And I don't think anybody has a quarrel with that because as I said before, sports careers are short. You probably have 10, 15 years of your lucky and then you have the rest of your life to live after that. And I'm sure cricket West Indies has no money to pay people who are retired from international cricket. But you have to agree that there are times when the perception is the reality where there are players who have been invited to represent the West Indies and for one reason or the other, they're not available. And one reason why I bring this up is not to disparage those players who take those contracts, is that I'm old enough to remember a time when the Michael Holdings and the Viverichards who played in England used to come back and play a regional cricket and it brought the crowds out and brought that energy to West Indies cricket that has not been the case for the last 20 years, 30 years almost. So there is that balance to strike, you believe, of when to represent the West Indies and when to go and seek the money. So how do you strike that balance? I think obviously when you look at the handling and the running of West Indies cricket over the years, players, this is one thing, players lose trust. Players lose trust in the system. So a player, today he's selected and tomorrow he's dropped and then when he's dropped there's no proper explanation. He don't know when next he's going to be selected. Most times when players get dropped, there's no kind of, there's not even a communication to say, well, we drop you because we think X, Y and Z, we needed to go back and work on this. So I think all players making personal decisions, they are aware of the options. They see how players have been treated before. Maybe they try to prevent being treated that way or themselves also maybe were treated like that at some point in time. So I guess it boils down to a player choice. But I don't believe, especially with the players, my peers, you know, that look like Paula, Gail, Sunil Narang. I can't experience where these guys say North of West Indies and go and play in the leagues. These things happen once they are not selected, then therefore they go and play. Let's shift away from that for a little bit. At the grassroots level, I mean, as I said, you played the cricket through the levels coming through to West Indies cricket, senior West Indies cricket. What needs to change? In my mind, I think there is a model in India where we have kids playing cricket from there before they are 10 years old, mastering the basics, mastering the mechanics of the sport, learning the tactics of the sport by the time they are 15, 16. That clearly is missing from the West Indies. When you look at the under 15 levels now right across the region, the cricket is frighteningly poor. How can cricket West Indies, what do they have to do to be able to transform the grassroots cricket, to be able to then produce more players like yourself who have this all-round ability to be excellent at the 2020 leagues, at the 2020 leagues, sorry, at the ODI level, at the test level. What needs to change and how does that change come about? I don't have the direct answers for it. What I can say is that again, I keep hopping on facilities that play a big part. When you are a kid growing up, for example, when I was growing up, I had access to Queen's Park Cricket Club at the age of eight. We all know Queen's Park is one of the best cricket grounds in the entire Caribbean. So imagine that 80-year-olds have access to a facility like that. What they did for me, the likes of my brother, Paula Narine, all of us have been through that system at a very early age. So we learned the fundamentals of the game and the basics of the game. So facilities is very important. I don't think people take it seriously and understand the importance of it and believe that we can just keep relying on natural talent, natural ability. We need to enhance our natural talent that we have in the Caribbean with infrastructure, with science, with everything else that will help the natural ability. The rest of the world is doing it. You look at the rest of the world, why they are so successful. You might take out a few things and say, okay, this is why they're successful and let's try to do it like that. But there's a lot more. There's a bigger scale you need to do. So from a first-class point of view, what I will suggest and recommend also, like those girls that we play, our original games at, remember back in the days, they used to play when I come to Jamaica, I might play in Alpat, I might play in Chilani, in Trinidad, they were playing in Gaakara Park. Go Gaia and I might play in Bobby. So one of those places, I know we have a rule that all first-class games need to play on first-class girls and international girls. But you need to bring back the community into cricket again. You need to get them back involved in the sport again. When you go and play in a recreation ground, whether it's in Alpat or at Gaakara Park, you're guaranteed to get a full house or even half. But when you put these full-size games in national stadiums that normally hold 10,000 and 12,000 people and you can barely get 200 people, that's not good for a player, that's not good. You want players to feel the crowd, feel that energy and want to play first-class cricket, want to play regional cricket. So you speak about of course improving the cricket starting from grassroots levels and ensuring that people come out to support. One of the other things that you spoke about and I'm quoting you from the post that you made, and I was really surprised, I have to say Dwayne, when I saw that post coming from you, because most times when you post it's about your music, it's about the artists that you're pushing, these different things. So I have to say when I saw that post a few minutes after the team was named, I was shocked. And then of course, I've never really seen you on any channel coming on to talk about things like this. Right, so I have to ask you, why now, why speak out and one of the things you said is the system has failed again, right? So clearly something is up, you are frustrated and you've decided that the time is right now to let the public know what I feel, what I have been through. So talk to me, why now? Yeah, it's a bittersweet feeling because it's something that I mean, you're getting very close to my heart and over the years that I play the game, I play the game with a spirit that brings life to the team. I live my life like that and I try to stay away from controversy, I try to stay away from negativity, things that really I don't have control over, I try to stay away from it. As you can see, this is the first time I really open up and speak in a forum like this, despite what have happened to me personally in my own career. But I felt I feel sad for my brother because I know how much it means to him to represent West Indies. I know he still wants to play for West Indies and the work he's been putting in. Again, he is someone that is very committed to the sport and when somebody dedicate their life to sport and they do everything that is asked of them to be selected. And the sad thing about it is I can guarantee you, up until now, he's yet to get a phone call, a text message or any sort of communication from the coach or from the chairman or selectors. And for me, that is the disappointing part because I've been there from since 2004, I see the bar treatment to players and I always say to myself, if ever I get in a position, whether it's from a captain point of view or administration point of view, a simple communication is the most important thing. Make a difference and is that sad that I expected better from this new regime and as I said in my post, but it's like nothing changes. You don't communicate with players, lack of respect. So you have to say, okay, when would it stop? And then they will hear these silly statements like what the chairman come out and say, you be here this already, the fans hear this already. When can we hear something else? When can we say, okay, we move in this next direction? You're talking about 2027, the team have to, the team is not even qualified to play the World Cup. So maybe the best approach is let's pick our best players, let's play, pick our players who informed, let's win some series, let's try to move up our rankings. So maybe time 2027, we don't have to go through another qualification or another qualifiers again. That should be the approach, not bill for 2027. In 2015, he said it bill for 2019. That was a failed process. Now we missed 2023, another failed process. And now we're looking to 2027. So again, you keep building, building, building, when will the building actually stop? If you go back in the last decade and take them from a white ball point of view, right? At one point in time, we were, we wasn't like great, like how it was before, but we was going, we was going up. At some point in time, we were our one day cricket, especially our white ball cricket was showing some sign of process, some progress. Then the politics come in and then they have the interference, the outside interference. And these are the downfall in my Cindy's cricket. Too much outside interference, too much victimization. And I don't think we as a society, as a people, can accept strong leaders or people with strong personalities. The moment you object to something, they consider you are rebel or, okay, put an X by his name. He's never to play again. He should never do this again. It shouldn't be like that. Do you have 30 seconds? I wanted to ask you, in your post as well, you encourage your brother to keep his chin up. Can you speak any at all to his state of mind right now? And how does, how do you help him to navigate this difficult period? Yeah, it's difficult. I mean, there's words could only say so much. Just to let him keep his chin up, you know, I mean, he wake up today and he starts off his day. He is someone who, the good thing about him, he's good. He's good. He's in a good space. He's obviously he's sad, but it's just for him to continue. You know, you don't have control over certain things. It's not to try to pick a fight with anybody, but his stats speak for itself. That's the most important thing. That's the whenever you get a chance to bat, make runs, lay a battle for you. All right, Dwayne. Well, you know, we want to thank you so much for stopping by on the Sports Mac zone. Of course, we continue to wish you all the best and we'll talk again very soon. Thank you very much. No problem. Four more windies captain there. Dwayne Bravo. Let's take a break.