New Delhi: Shamarh Brooks was within touching distance of becoming only the second West Indian to hit a century on ODI debut, when he went back to a Mark Adair delivery and was adjudged lbw in the first ODI against Ireland on Saturday.Brooks had made 93 off 89 balls, having come in at 59 for 2 and seen that become 62 for 4. He rebuilt alongside captainKieron Pollard and then shifted gears to accelerate, as West Indies got to 269 – enough for a 24-run win. Looking back on his dismissal, Brooks felt he should have played forward rather than back to that delivery.
“Oh, words can’t express,” Brooks said after the match about missing out on a century. “But, at the end of the day, it was my first game, and I am still happy with the score that I got. Unfortunately, I didn’t get those three figures. I wouldn’t say I panicked in the nervous 90s. Some people would probably end up being a little too cautious after being set, but as we all know, it’s a learning curve at this level, and I’ll take this one on the chin and look to go from strength to strength.
“In hindsight, now, looking back on it, I probably should have stayed on the front foot. There was a big space or a big gap on the leg side with the field that the bowler had set, so that’s the only real change I would make. Instead of going back on the back foot, pressing forward on the front foot.” Brooks had made his Test debut back in 2019, but his limited-overs career is only taking off now, with the ODI appearance coming on the back of a T20I debut last month against Pakistan.
“For me, it comes down to being able to rotate the strike in terms of the middle overs,” Brooks said of his role in white-ball cricket. “We’ve always produced guys who can hit the ball over the rope, so for me, it’s just to really come in and play my part in the middle overs – especially in a situation like today where we lost early wickets, and get the innings going again, then continue with a flurry at the back end.”
