It had been five years since Dwayne Bravo has batted at No.5 or scored at least 25 runs in an innings in T20I cricket. Bravo's skills with the ball at the death have overshadowed his proficiency with the bat and his lowly batting positions have rendered his contributions to being mere cameos.

The 37-year-old veteran made most use of a rare batting promotion in the second T20I against Australia in St Lucia, scoring an unbeaten 47 off 34 and sharing a match-defining century stand with Shimron Hetmyer that set up his side's convincing win. Bravo may not have been given the opportunity to walk in at 59 for 3 in the eighth over of the innings had regular captain Kieron Pollard been fit or Nicholas Pooran been in some semblance of form. Online Betting Id But with West Indies in need of a rebuild, they turned to their all-weather player and his forgotten skill.

"It was always in the team plan if we bat first and we lose early wickets for me to go in and control the innings with the bat - it's more my style of play," Bravo told the broadcasters. "Pick up the ones and twos, lay that solid platform for the likes of [Andre] Russell, Fabian [Allen], Pooran, if Polly is in the squad, to do what they have to do in the back end. I must be honest, at some point, I was trying to get out at the back end to allow Russell and these guys to finish off"

Bravo served as an excellent foil to the 'classy' Shimron Hetmyer ensuring West Indies didn't get stuck again with their dot-ball problems. He revealed at the end of the game that his role in the team extended beyond contributions and into handholding the youngsters in the side and impart upon them knowledge from his vast T20 experience.

"It's just about guiding the younger players: Hety, Pooran, Obed McCoy, Hayden Walsh...that's the kind of information we keep feeding to these younger players," Bravo said. "We needed partnerships and the way Hetmyer batted in the first game and into this game, it's just a pleasure to see him bat. He's a batting leader in our group, we gave him the responsibility to take control of the batting and show some maturity. We all know how classy he is and how dangerous he can be, [the advice was] just to bat deep, it's a ground that has a big wind factor advantage."

Bravo's reading of the game and his T20 smarts came for praise from his batting partner and half-centurion Hetmyer. "I had never batted with Bravo before ... he was just telling me to keep going and just do what you do best," Hetmyer said. "I really trusted him batting and running between the wickets."

The veteran all-rounder's contributions on the night were not restricted to the batting innings and not reflected just in the scorecard. He was also behind Fidel Edwards' excellent slower delivery that caught Aaron Finch unawares. "Two days ago I teach him how to do it," Bravo revealed.

"I said, you have the perfect action to bowl a different slower ball. I let him stand about five feet away from me and said Fidel, all you have to do with your action is sling the ball like this with pace but he didn't have the confidence to do it in a game. fun88 Betting Tips So I said to him do a few in practice. I said do it [in the game], nothing wrong with trying, so for me to see him have success I'm happy."