Talent, for example. Desire, another one. And then we’re not even talking about the abilities, the coach at Under-13 who didn’t support you and that knee injury you suffered when you were sixteen. You could have made it.

But one of the main reasons is that Salt was invited to a party with Rihanna on Thursday and turned it down in favor of an early evening. You choose to drink five beers on a Friday with your partner who works in finance and says the word “inflation”, Salt chooses not to hang out with one of the world’s most successful and talented megastars, not even with 48 hours to spare to pop a Berocca or two.

“Rihanna’s parties can wait,” Salt joked after the match.

It is, objectively speaking, the wrong decision and you might think less of Salt as a result. When the new era of player welfare dawned, asking them to prioritize themselves as much as the game, this is what they were talking about. Going to parties with pop stars. Don’t play golf.

But he did score a century. So there’s that.

The Bajan boys did the business for England. They both played cricket for Harrison College down the road, a school where Bethell was a student, while Salt was a loanee, attending a nearby private school, but was released to day care to play cricket.

Salt himself described Kensington Oval as the ground where he saw the most cricket growing up. The story of watching Paul Collingwood carry the T20 trophy past him in 2010 is a common story for good reason. This place means something to him and when he reached three figures, the outpouring of emotions spoke to that.

“I don’t get very emotional on the cricket field,” he said afterwards. “But that’s as close as I’ve gotten, I think for so many reasons. That’s number one for me.”

Salt, a lifelong Manchester City fan, added: “It’s something you can’t really put into words without wanting to sound too cheesy. That’s what you dream about as a kid. That’s the cricket equivalent of being 30 meter long screamer at Maine Road in the 89th minute.”

Barbados is a small place. As of 2023, the population was 282,000. So when one of them goes into the field, people know about it. Salt has played here for England many times, but for Bethell it was a first.

His college coach, Corey Edwards, a former Barbadian sailor, said he knew from the start that Bethell was destined for the top. While Barry Wilkinson, a local commentator, remembered Bethell from when he was three years old and described walking to Kensington Oval as the closest he came to “watching his son” do the same. Whether he would play on this ground as an international cricketer seems less up for debate than who it would be for. Wilkinson always thought it would be for the West Indies, but Edwards wasn’t so sure.

Regardless, the locals supported both as their own. Mainly because they are.

“There was a turning point in the chase where we both felt like the crowd had turned around and was now supporting us,” Salt said of their partnership.

“Is that his old school?” Salt asked, looking at a crowd of supporters still in the stands supporting their friend. ‘Good for him, I think that’s great. I’m more happy for him right now than for myself when I see that. There are a lot of happy people there with smiling faces, they were Beth’s first 50 on this property.”

For Salt, his innings contributed to his incredible record against the West Indies. In his last five matches against them, he has made three centuries and scored 456 runs at an average of 228 with a strike rate of 193.

The three centuries represent his only one in T20I cricket and one of the two innings in which he failed to reach three figures was an 87 not out in the World Cup. On the surface, asking Salt what the secret sauce is against this couple seems like a boring question; it’s certainly a coincidence, but it’s one he’s wondered about himself.

“The secret is that there is no secret,” he said. “I looked into it to see if I could take something away from other places and other circumstances, but it wasn’t really that much. It just seems like I played a little better here, that’s all.”

On paper it was a routine victory for England. But everywhere you looked all evening, there was entertainment at hand. Andre Russell launches Liam Livingstone onto the roof and out of the stadium before being caught off the next ball. Jos Buttler managed to catch a slip with one hand before being even more ridiculously caught by Gudakesh Motie at third for a golden duck. Motie himself walked out at 117 for 8 and fired his first two balls for sixes. It was full throttle, played to an invested, passionate audience evenly split between tourists and locals. If there’s any way to watch cricket that’s better than a T20 on a Saturday night in Bridgetown, I’m yet to see it.

But even after all that, you’d think you’d still rather party with Rihanna on Thursdays.