Shamarh Brooks - West Indies - Batsman

Shamarh Brooks rose to fame from junior cricket after representing the West Indies Under-19 side in the 2006 junior World Cup. After making his first-class debut, his seniors noticed his tactical nous and he was elevated to the captain's position for the Barbados Under-19 team in 2007.

As a player, though, Brooks was not particularly impressive and the shield of a sharp and astute cricketing mind could only take him so far if he could not put the weight of runs or wickets behind him to back it up. He had the reputation of being a solid top-order batsman and a decent leg-break bowler who could turn the ball, but the all-rounder was certainly lacking a breakthrough performance of note.

He was, however, selected to lead the Under-19 team for the World Cup in 2008 but couldn’t fair too well with the bat or ball. The fact that his leadership didn’t take his team too far in the tournament didn’t help his cause much either. Brooks went back to grind it out in domestic cricket, and decided to focus on his batting rather than his leggies.

His numbers still flatter to deceive as he meanders around the A side of the West Indies, but he has managed to break into the St. Kitts franchise in the CPL and continues to play for them as of the 2018 edition of the tournament.

By Rishi Roy
As of September 2018