Free-flowing Brathwaite smashes joint second-fastest fifty of his Test career

West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite was dismissed twice in the 40s in the second Test at Trent Bridge, agonizingly short of his fifty, but he was off the blocks quickly on both occasions there.

In the first innings, the 48 runs he scored came at a strike rate of 66.60. The first dig saw him smash a whopping eight boundaries.

He came out even more aggressively in the second. Brathwaite was on 30* after 25 balls in the second innings, the first time in his Test career he had maintained a strike rate over 100.00 after facing 25 balls. 

The 31-year-old was on 47* off 47 balls at one point and was on course to smash his personal record for his fastest fifty in Tests (which was 62 balls, a record he had set in 2022 against England).

That unfortunately did not happen, as Brathwaite perished for 47, but today at Edgbaston the Windies skipper picked up from where he left at Trent Bridge and smashed his joint second-fastest fifty in Tests.

The right-hander brought up his half-century off just 70 balls, equalling the 70-ball fifty he had struck against New Zealand in Hamilton back in 2017.

On the day, Brathwaite started his innings relatively slowly. He was on 14* after 26 balls and was biding his time thanks to the situation. Both Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson were making the ball talk despite the conditions favouring the batting side.

But Brathwaite’s knock came to life in the ninth over, with him hammering Woakes for two boundaries in three balls. The first of the two boundaries was an exquisite straight drive that whizzed past the bowler. Then, an overpitched outswinger was flayed through the covers delightfully by the Windies skipper.

From thereon, Brathwaite kept collecting the runs consistently and raced to 30 off 37 balls in no time.

He was a bit watchful post this phase, and found himself in a tricky spot on multiple occasions. He could easily have perished on the first ball of the 12th over, with him being completely undone by a Mark Wood bouncer that had him in all sorts. But luck was on Brathwaite’s side, and the attempted ‘duck’ hit his bat and flew over the vacant fine-leg region to the boundary.

The West Indies skipper then rode his luck and brought up his fifty off 70 balls.

Brathwaite is the first West Indies captain since Daren Sammy back in 2012 at Trent Bridge to post a 50-plus score in England. He is now one of five West Indies captains this century to post a fifty in English conditions, with the others being Sammy, Chris Gayle, Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams.

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