However, instead, the experience changed him for the better.
“The last time I was here was very tough for me, but it was a series that really changed around my career. I was young, in unfamiliar territory and I really didn’t cope very well with it, to be honest,” he said.
“But since then, I’ve been able to go away and learned a lot from my experience of here last time. I consider myself a different player to what I was three years ago. In England, batting will always be a challenge, but I think I’m ready and up for that.”
He has set himself targets that he believes has prepared to achieve on the tour in which the first Test bowls off at the Aeges Stadium in Southampton on July 8.
“I would love to score a Test hundred in England, it’s always a challenge but I think if you’re going to rate yourself as a player you have to be able to do it and I think, I’ve been putting in enough work to actually come up with something in this series,” he said.
Dowrich’s West Indies will face England in the first of three Test matches at the Aeges Stadium in Southampton on July 8, and Dowrich believes the visitors’ pace attack is as good as any.
“If you look at the main four in Shannon, Kemar, Jason and Alzarri, they all present different skills. “Kemar is probably the most skilful of them all in terms of being able to get a consistent line and length and moving the ball both ways. Shannon and Alzarri have a little more pace and Jason is Mr Consistent; he can put the ball on a 10-pence piece,” Dowrich said.
“So I think we bring the whole dynamic, and then obviously you have young Chemar Holder coming up, who is an exciting talent and the way he bowled in first-class cricket this season shows that. So I think we have a well-versed attack and I look forward to seeing them bowl in this series.”
Notwithstanding, Dowrich has nothing but praise for Archer.
“I know Jofra pretty well, he’s an amazing talent and I wish him well going into this series. But at the end of the day when we cross that line, it’s the West Indies against England, but at the end of the day, we have a wonderful bowling line-up and I’m happy with the team that takes the field with me,” he said.
The players arrived in Antigua earlier Monday on two charter flights that collected players from across the Caribbean during the course of the day. The West Indies will play three Tests during the seven-week tour in defence of the Wisden Trophy they won during their home series against England in 2019.
“This is a huge step forward in cricket and in sports in general as we travel over to England for this series. A lot has gone into the preparations for what will be a new phase in the game. I’m happy for the support and well-wishes we have been receiving from our loyal and dedicated fans once it was confirmed the tour would go-ahead. This has been a source of great inspiration,” said Holder.
“We have a fantastic group of cricketers, coaches, medical staff and support staff and I know everyone is eagerly looking forward to the start of the first match when we can get back on the field of play. There is expectation in the air that we will defend the Wisden Trophy and we will certainly put in the work and give it our all to keep hold of it.”
On arrival into Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, members of the touring party will be tested again for COVID-19 prior to the seven-week tour during which they will live, train and play in a “bio-secure” environment, as part of the comprehensive medical and operational plans to ensure player and staff safety.
The bio-secure protocols will restrict movement in and out of the venues, so a group of reserve players will travel to train and help prepare the Test squad and ensure replacements are available in case of any injury.
Meanwhile, Floyd Reifer will join the coaching staff as batting coach. He will fill in for Monty Desai, who is based in India but is unable to travel due to travel restrictions. He will join the other members of the coaching staff that includes Phil Simmons (Head Coach) and Roddy Estwick (Assistant Coach), and Rayon Griffith (Assistant Coach).
Team analyst A.R. Srikkanth, who is s also based in India will work remotely from Bangaluru for the duration of the tour.
The medical support staff will be bolstered by the additions of Dr Praimanand Singh (Team Doctor), Neil Barry Jr (Physiotherapist), Nkoyo Meade (Massage Therapist) and Donald LaGuerre (Team Psychologist).
The series will feature three back-to-back Test matches for the Wisden Trophy, starting July 8. The first Test will be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton (July 8-12) with the second and third matches at Old Trafford in Manchester from July 16-20 and then July 24-28.
Test Squad: Jason Holder (Captain), Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, John Campbell, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Shane Dowrich, Chemar Holder, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Raymon Reifer and Kemar Roach.
Reserve Players: Sunil Ambris, Joshua DaSilva, Shannon Gabriel, Keon Harding, Kyle Mayers, Preston McSween, Marquino Mindley, Shayne Moseley, Anderson Phillip, Oshane Thomas and Jomel Warrican.
It didn't get better. Scores of 14, 1, 10 and 3 against India and 11 and 8 against Afghanistan saw him end the year badly. That was when he called upon one of the best openers in West Indies history.
“I had some words with Desmond Haynes back in Barbados. Me and him always had a good relationship because he was team manager for the Barbados team when I first started, so I had some chats with him. He was obviously an opener as well and that's been very beneficial to me,” said Brathwaite who was addressing the media from the West Indies training base in Manchester on Wednesday.
Those words have proven largely to have been beneficial.
"A lot of it is keeping it simple, you don't really want to complicate it too much. It's just simple advice, just about what he did back in the day. Three hours left in a day is always a tough period for an opener, or an hour. So it's just mental stuff that he helped me with... he was very strong mentally."
The last time Brathwaite was in England, he experienced much better fortunes just missing out on twin centuries when he scored 134 and 95 at Leeds where the West Indies won by five wickets.
The 27-year-old opener said whatever happened back then is of little consequence now as the first Test set to start on July 8 draws nearer. He said he is focused on doing well for the team now.
"That was almost three years ago. Looking back at stuff I did I can obviously see things I did well, but that's history. I have a current job to do here and I'm ready, I'm raring to go,” he said.
"I'm up for the challenge... I know all the guys here can do well. I'm starting the innings and I'm just going to do my job, it's as simple as that. I know we have a good batting line-up and everyone's ready and raring to go, so no added pressure really.
"We've got to score runs. Once you can put runs on the board, we put our team in a great position. We've still got to be disciplined with the ball but I think potentially, when we won the game at Headingley, we scored runs, we chased down over 300 runs, so we've just got to put runs on the board."
Permaul, the 30-year-old slow left-arm orthodox spinner from Guyana, snared 50 wickets during the West Indies Championships that ended in March at an excellent average of 12.98. Speaking with Sportsmax.TV shortly after the season ended, he said he felt that the success he enjoyed would have put him closer to selection to the West Indies senior squad.
“Playing for the West Indies is always my goal every season I play,” he said, “but I wasn’t finding favour with the West Indies selectors. I don’t know how close I am to making the West Indies team, I would think after an excellent season like this one I am not far from playing for the West Indies again.”
However, according to Harper, a fellow Guyanese, Permaul’s success did not get him close enough.
“If you look at the structure of the team; the Test squad and the reserves, you realize that there are not many spinners in the party,” Harper said while speaking on the Mason and Guest talk show in Barbados on Tuesday.
“In England, we looked at the conditions you are likely to face there and the sort of bowlers we will need in the squad and (Rahkeem) Cornwall was selected as a spinner in the squad from his performance in his last Test match.
“Looking at the reserves we thought we would look at a replacement for the positions in the Test team…the panel went for the incumbent who was on the last tour.”
The decision to exclude Permaul did not go down well with Hilbert Foster President of the Berbice Cricket Board in Guyana. Permaul plays his domestic cricket in Berbice.
“The BCB would like to condemn in the strongest possible way the sick treatment being handed out to this outstanding son of Berbice and would like for an explanation to been given on his non-selection," Foster said.
"Has a decision been taken that Permaul's career is over at just 30 years old? Is there another unknown factor for his non-selection? Is he indisciplined? Is he considered just a regional bowler or is he too old?
"We deserve to know as the BCB is, without doubt, the hardest working cricket board in the Caribbean and we would not sit back and watch our cricketers being treated like a second class when they deserve better."
Holder led the West Indies to a surprise 2-1 victory over the then number one team in the world during the series played in the Caribbean in early 2019 and took hold of the Wisden Trophy.
However, during a press conference in the UK on Wednesday, a day after the team arrived for their three-Test series, Holder was quick to dismiss any notion that his team were favourites to win the series that will be played behind closed doors.
“So many things have changed from then to now, conditions being one of them. To call us favourites would be wrong. England are a higher-ranked side than us and I think they are favourites in their back yard,” said Holder.
“There is lots to play for and lots to motivate you as a group. Guys are pumped up for the opportunity and the only sad thing is that we won’t be able to play in front of the crowds.”
Holder believes his players should cherish the opportunity to play notwithstanding recent developments wherein the players are facing a 50 per cent temporary pay cut imposed by a cash-strapped Cricket West Indies.
“I see so many leagues in jeopardy and the World T20 as well -- so the mere fact we are getting an opportunity to play cricket I think we should cherish that,” Holder said.
“Many organisations are taking pay cuts and we have suddenly got our opportunity now to make some money so we have a lot of things to be thankful for and I think we just have to relish the opportunity and grab it with both hands.”
The West Indies will spend the next four weeks preparing for the series that begins with the first Test at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on July 8.
