In full flow, Shamarh Brooks is all elegance. He drives mercilessly through the off side and often finishes his flicks standing on one leg. But it took four innings in Tests before these skills were visible.

Delayed gratification has been a theme of Brooks' career. As a teenager, he was part of two Under-19 World Cup squads, even captaining West Indies in the 2008 edition. But he found it hard to take to first-class cricket. Brooks wanted to be an electrical engineer if not a cricketer, a switch that might have played on his mind when he was dropped by Barbados in 2012, having made only one fifty after his debut in 2007.

His comeback for Barbados was as boisterous as his exit had been tame. In 2015, Brooks made 124 against Windward Islands in his first innings back, followed it up with two more hundreds in the same year, and was immediately back in the West Indies' plans with a Board President's XI call-up against Australia.

But it wasn't until 2018 when he seriously challenged for the senior side again. As West Indies A captain, he made 91 and 122* against India A during a tour of England, and two fifties against the same opponents a year later earned him a place in West Indies' squad for the home series against India.
Varun Shetty