Brilliant Bramble eyeing future Windies selection after consistent regional performances

– Jaguars’ leading run-scorer in 2018-2019 season with 580 runs

By Brandon Corlette

From scoring 613 runs in the 2017/18 season of the CWI Regional 4-Day tournament to scoring 580 runs in the recently concluded 2018/19 season, Anthony Bramble relived his dream season in an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sport.
Being Anthony Bramble is not an easy task, the wicket-keeper/batsman finished the last two seasons of the CWI Regional 4-Day Tournament with the most dismissals as a wicket-keeper.
Bramble ended the 2017/18 season with 45 dismissals, and followed up his 2018/19 season with a similar amount of dismissals, including 42 catches and three stumpings.
Speaking exclusively with this reporter, Bramble said the season was a good one, and scoring over 500 runs — the most for Guyana Jaguars this season — with an average of 50+ is a testament to his journey.
“The statistics show that I couldn’t ask for a better season, but my aim is to be a consistent performer, and (to) improve on my fitness,” the big Berbician stated. Having played 58 First Class matches, Bramble said that prior to the 2018/19 season, he has been working hard on his batting.
“I have been working on my technique, trying to score big runs, which I have done in the past seasons,” he revealed.
In Bramble’s most prolific season in Regional 4-Day cricket in 2017/18, he finished with 613 runs at an average of 47.15. The hard-hitting Bramble scored one century and four half-centuries in 2017/18. His stellar performances that season earned him an award at the 2018 Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) ceremony.
Bramble, the 28-year-old, is no different from the Caribbean players who are hungry to represent West Indies at the highest level. “I (have) always (wanted) to represent West Indies. The runs have been there for me, it’s now time for the selectors to do their job”, Bramble declared.
At the end of the 2018/19 season, Bramble averaged 52.72 with the bat, having hit two centuries and one half-century in his brilliant season.
The right-hander, who plays for the Albion Sports Club, has the ability to bat at any given position in the batting order. This season, he had a high strike rate of 76.82, hitting 65 fours and 13 sixes. In the 58 First Class matches he has played, he has had a career aggregate of 2,403 runs, with three centuries and 10 half-centuries. Bramble has a high score of 196*, which he smashed against the Windward Islands Hurricanes a few seasons ago.
As a wicket-keeper/batsman who is usually called upon to bat with the lower order, Bramble had a respectable batting average of 31.20. His glove work has improved tremendously in what is still a budding career, Bramble already has 202 catches and 23 stumpings overall.
In the year 2018, Bramble played for the West Indies ‘B’ team in the Canadian Global T20 tournament, wherein he was given the opportunity to captain the Caribbean side. Without doubt, he is certainly a player on the selectors’ radar; time will tell when Bramble will be given a well-deserved opportunity in the West Indies senior team.