Today i.e. 12th April 2024, the former West Indies allrounder Dwayne Smith celebrates his 41st birthday. The man from Barbados not only represented the West Indies in all three formats but also led them to various memorable victories. Using his medium-pacer bowling and hitting batting style Smith established himself as one of the key members of West Indies cricket in no time.
In 2002 Smith’s journey started as he debuted against Guyana. However, his most remarkable performance came in the fifth game of the series when he hammered a magnificent century after clinching his maiden wicket. In 2004, Smith made their international debut for the West Indies in Test Cricket. However, he had a mixed tour of South Africa as he scored a century only.
Since then, Smith had an on-and-off tour in his international career. He had a disastrous tour of England in both ODI and Test formats. However, later in 2006, West Indies hosted Bangladesh in a three-match ODI series which proved to be the best to date for Smith. He won two Man of the Match awards to help the hosts seal the series by 3-0.
Domestic career and IPL journey!
Despite a below-par performance in international cricket, Dwayne Smith remained a pivotal figure for Barbados in domestic cricket. He was the top scorer in the WICB Cup in 2009 and 2014. He won the tournament with Barbados in 2011. Smith also remained one of the top T20 stars in the Caribbean Premier League and Indian Premier League.
In 2014, he won the CPL title with Barbados after defeating Guyana Amazon Warriors in the finals. Smith had scored match-winning 59 runs in the finals of the prestigious tournament. On the other hand, in the IPL, he has represented teams like Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers.
It’s worth noting that he started his IPL career as Dwayne Bravo’s replacement for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2008. He was well known in IPL for his hard-hitting abilities and economical bowling performances. As Smith celebrates his 41st birthday we would like to join his fans and friends to wish him a healthy and long life.