The Glue guy
Is Shamarh Brooks the key to the top order?
Most successful sports teams need a player who will knit the team together, enabling it to function as a cohesive unit - a “glue guy” if you will.
These players wouldn’t necessarily be thought of as game winners themselves, but those who perform their role in such a way as to give their teammates maximum opportunity to step up and win a game. This is harder to define in cricket than other sports, as the battle is generally a solo one - batter v bowler - but there are situations in which the role played by a glue guy is of vital importance. For West Indies, Shamarh Brooks feels like he could be that player.
Brooks was touted for senior international honours from a young age. A first class debut for Barbados at 19, followed by captaincy of West Indies at the 2008 Under 19 World Cup, had him christened as the next Caribbean cricketing prodigy. However, the scores didn’t quite follow the promise, and by 2015 a three year absence from first class cricket suggested the talent may not have been there either.
A maiden hundred on recall to the first class game hinted the break had been fruitful, and the Barbadian has barely looked back since. A string of impressive performances for the national ‘A’ team resulted in the selectors being unable to ignore the persuasive argument of potential being fulfilled. Although there was no Test debut after his initial call up to the squad against England in January 2019, it wasn’t long before it was forthcoming later in the year, as India visited the Caribbean. Patience has certainly been a virtue for Brooks and that appears to be reflected in the way he plays his cricket.
Runs are the primary currency in cricket, that can’t be argued against. However, there are a number of ways in which a team can achieve these, particularly in Test cricket, where there is no immediate cap on the time a team can bat provided they have wickets in hand. Therefore, a player being able to occupy the crease for an extended period of time is of high value, something which the West Indies have found hard to come by in recent years.
Ultimately this will wear down opposing bowlers and blunt the ball. Therefore, providing teammates batting alongside them, and further down the order, maximum opportunity to score. Leo Tolstoy would clearly have approved of this method when he wrote “the two most powerful warriors are patience and time”, although whether he managed to watch much cricket in 18th century Russia may be up for debate.
Shamarh Brooks has displayed the aptitude for this style of cricket in abundance during his short Test career so far. On the recent tour to England no visiting player faced more deliveries than Brooks. An important, and possibly underrated, element of playing Test cricket in a country where the ball is prone to swing to its own rhythm and scoring requires patience. There is always the danger that focussing too much on the number of deliveries faced results in a batter becoming “bogged down” or unable to score, just ask Joe Denly.
Therefore, it is an encouraging sign that alongside facing the most deliveries on that tour, Brooks was the second highest run scorer for the Windies.
The thought of this type of batter can often lead to a generalisation in how they play. However, to watch Brooks bat feels indulgent; he is a classical batsman in the purist sense. Elegant cover drives, crisp on drives, flicks off his pads and square cuts point to a repertoire of shots at home in red ball cricket.
Never looking to overhit the ball, his strokeplay is balanced and in control at all times, rarely losing his posture. Not averse to the odd flourish, he often finishes a shot standing on one leg while still maintaining textbook technique. This is the type of batter you don't necessarily mind watching in an empty stadium, purely so you can hear the echo of such crisp ball striking. Brooks is unlikely to single handedly destroy an attack with a barrage of big hitting, but more likely to patiently work his way into an innings, slowly picking apart the bowling and punishing any loose deliveries.
A maiden fifty against an intimidating Indian attack comprising Bumrah, Shami, Sharma and Jadeja, displayed early evidence of how his game could adapt to Test cricket. This earned praise from Sir Viv Richards who commented on Brooks’ composure at the crease and stylish batting. He followed this up later in the year with a match winning 111 against Afghanistan. Notably his score was double any other West Indian batsman, as he spent over four hours at the crease, and importantly showed his game would translate well on a turning wicket - the best technical batters often do.
In the immediacy this would ideally have led to carrying his ability to bat time into the current series in New Zealand. However, as has been widely documented, the West Indies top order - including Brooks - failed to catch fire at Seddon Park. A Test series in New Zealand is perhaps the least likely venue for a sudden reversal in West Indies batting woes. An attack of Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, Kyle Jamieson and Tim Southee would likely prove too much for all but a world class batsmen, even the supernatural abilities of Virat Kohli were stymied earlier this year.
As West Indies begin the next cycle of Test cricket Brooks has the potential to be a vital cog in a batting unit that is crying out for stability at the top of the order. There is no doubt that West Indies need a player like Brooks to be successful, therefore it is worth persevering with him as he works through the intricacies of Test cricket.
Without the distraction of constant white ball interruption, Brooks has the opportunity to hone his red ball skills and in doing so become a lynchpin at the top of the order. With plenty of other question marks in the batting unit, success would be invaluable and result in the space for more expansive batsmen such as John Campbell, Jermaine Blackwood and, dare I say it, Nicholas Pooran to play their more natural attacking game.
It’s increasingly evident that the ability is there; the question now for Brooks and the West Indies is whether the consistency is there too. If the answer is in the affirmative then Brooks’ continued presence in the team over the next few years has the potential to help elevate the West Indies batting to the next level.
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