Shamarh Brooks

When on song, Shamrah Brooks is one of the most attractive West Indies batsmen going around. He oozes elegance and his drives on the up resemble class and confidence. Over the course of his professional cricket career, Brooks has played some exceptional shots, nothing more pleasing than the flicks which he finishes standing on one leg. However, it took him some considerable amount of time to get adjusted to the international circuit.

Brooks’s career has seen several ups and downs. He was part of the West Indies junior team in two U-19 World Cups in 2006 and 2008. He also led the Caribbeans in the 2008 edition but the transformation to first-class cricket wasn’t as smooth as he would have liked. Some below-par performances in the domestic circuit never really allowed him to cement his place and switch to electrical engineering from a cricketer looked like a viable option for him back then especially after he was dropped from the Barbados side in 2012. He had only scored a solitary fifty since making his debut way back in 2007. 

Brooks stormed his way back into the Barbados set-up in 2015, slamming 124 against the Windward Islands in his comeback innings and followed it up with two more hundreds in the same year. His rich vein of form made the selectors take notice and he was immediately back in the scheme of things for the national senior side. He received a call-up with a match between Board President’s XI against Australia. 

However, it was not until 2018 that he made a serious impact. He smashed 91 and an unbeaten 122 against India A during a tour to England and it was his twin half-centuries against the same opponents which paved way for his maiden call-up in the senior side. He went on to make his Test debut for West Indies in 2019 against India but couldn't leave an impression. His first moment of recognition in the international circuit came in a match against Afghanistan when he scored his first Test century. He has chipped in with some useful knocks here and there but he hasn’t been consistent enough in the limited opportunities he has received for the national side.

(As of April 2021)