West Indian cricketer
Shamarh Shaqad Joshua Brooks (born 1 October 1988) is a Barbadian international cricketer who plays international cricket for West Indies and plays domestic cricket for Barbados. He is a right-handed batsman who occasionally bowls leg-spin and mainly plays as a batsman.[1] He made his international debut for the West Indies in August 2019.[1]
Early and domestic career
Brooks was seen as a cricket prodigy in his teenage years. He played for the West Indies under-19 cricket team in the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, made his first-class cricket debut for Barbados in 2007 and captained the West Indies in the 2008 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.[2][3] He remained in the Barbados national team for several years, but never realized his full potential and after a particularly bad year in 2012, scoring just 76 runs at an average of 8.44, he was dropped from the national team.[3]
Brooks didn't play another first-class match until 2015,[4] but immediately upon his return he scored his maiden first-class century against the Windward Islands.[3][5] Over the next five years, he scored 3091 runs at an average of 38.63, including five centuries and 20 half-centuries.[3]
Brooks began to make steps towards Test cricket by captaining unofficial Test matches for the West Indies' second team, West Indies A, from 2016. This culminated in the West Indies A series against India A in England in 2018, where he scored 91 in the first match[6] and 121 not out in the second match to finish as the highest run-scorer for the series.[7][8]
Twenty20 franchise cricket
Brooks played for the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League, the top-level Twenty20 league in the West Indies, for two seasons in 2016 and 2017. He played 4 matches in each season, and across them both scored 119 runs at an average of 23.80 with a strike-rate of 120.20.[9][10]
International career
In January 2019, Brooks was named in the West Indies' Test squad for their series against England as a reward for his first-class form,[11][12] but he did not play. He then captained West Indies A in another series against India A in July and August 2019. Initially he was only meant to captain the final of three unofficial Test matches, with Kraigg Brathwaite captaining the first two,[13][14] but after an injury to Brathwaite, he stepped in to captain the first two matches as well.[15] Brooks led from the front with half centuries in both of the first two matches,[16][17] He was then again named in the West Indies' Test squad, this time for their series against India.[18][19]
Brooks made his Test debut for the West Indies against India on 22 August 2019.[20] In November 2019, in the one-off Test against Afghanistan, Brooks scored his first century in Test cricket, with 111 runs.[21]
In June 2020, Brooks was named in the West Indies' Test squad, for their series against England.[22] The Test series was originally scheduled to start in May 2020, but was moved back to July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[23]
In November 2021, Brooks was named in the West Indies' One Day International (ODI) squad for their series against Pakistan.[24] He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut on 13 December 2021, for the West Indies against Pakistan.[25] In December 2021, he was named in the West Indies' ODI squad for their series against Ireland.[26] He made his ODI debut on 8 January 2022, for the West Indies against Ireland.[27]
On 4 June 2022, in the third and final match of the series against the Netherlands, Brooks scored his first century in ODI cricket, with 101 not out.[28]
In December 2022, Brooks replaced Nkrumah Bonner as a concussion substitute on day 3 of the first Test of West Indies tour of Australia.[29]
