Veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo is ready to return to international cricket, announcing his availability for selection to the shortest format with the Twenty20 World Cup just 20 months away.
He has also hinted of the return of other veterans, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine which he believes their presence will have a significant impact on the young West Indies side.
Bravo, 36, had announced his retirement 15 months ago from international cricket, but says he is coming out of retirement with the hope of playing with the West Indies team again.
In recent times he had hinted of returning to international cricket, following the change of administration in Cricket West Indies (CWI) with Ricky Skerritt replacing the controversial president Dave Cameron.
Bravo, still one of the world’s leading Twenty20 franchise cricketers, said the change in CWI leadership has been one of the major reasons for his coming out of retirement.
Bravo has not played for West Indies in 15 months while Gayle has not turned out in a Twenty20 international in 10 months, following the England series in the Caribbean earlier this year.
Russell, who is currently playing in the Twenty20 Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), has been plagued with injury which abruptly ended his World Cup campaign list June, while Narine last played in August when India toured the Caribbean.
Bravo, a former one-day captain, also quit Tests in 2015 after playing 40 games and scoring 2,200 runs and took 86 wickets. He has also represented West Indies in 66 Twenty20s Internationals but has played 450 Twenty20s overall, scoring 6298 runs and grabbing 490 wickets.
Bravos’ return has been welcomed by Skerritt who has made the reintegration of senior players into the international sides one of his promises of the election.
Several senior players had stopped their international careers in recent years, apparently over dissatisfaction with the Cameron administration.
