Dwayne Bravo is that creature long needed by West Indies, an allrounder. He made his Test debut at Lord's in July 2004, and took three wickets in the first innings with his medium-paced swingers. He also showed a cool enough temperament to forge a confident start at the crease, displaying a straight bat despite his team's facing a big England total of 568. His follow-ups were even better. By the end of the series, West Indies were down and out, but in Bravo, they had unearthed a special talent.

He scored plenty of runs and claimed a bunch of wickets in four Tests, but nowhere was his ability more evident than in Manchester, where he top-scored for the team, and then restricted England with a six-wicket haul. He hit 107 against South Africa in April 2004-05 at Antigua to bring up his maiden century and in November 2005, scored a magnificent 113 against Australia at Hobart. He dazzled in the ODI series against India in May 2006, bamboozling the batsmen with his slower ones and chipping in with match-winning contributions with the bat.

He grew as a player in the limited-overs format in the 2006-07 season with a fluent unbeaten 112, his maiden ODI ton, against England in the Champions Trophy and achieved his best career figures, 4 for 39, against India in the last game before the World Cup. Bravo was acting ODI captain when Chris Gayle was injured in Zimbabwe in late 2007 and he became their latest Test captain when he led them to a loss in Durban the following month.

He was often a rare glimmer of joy among some depressing moments until an ankle injury struck in 2008 and ruled him out for eight months. He return for the one-day series against England just as full of energy as when he left, but full recovery proved a slow process and he wasn't rushed back into Test cricket.

Twenty20, though, was less of an issue as he resumed his contract with Mumbai Indians. His impressive Twenty20 skills were on display during the Champions League in India where he was the tournament's leading wicket-taker.