Jermaine Blackwood played the innings of the match to establish West Indies’ win in the first Test against England, but he might not have been in the side had Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer not opted out of the tour.
West Indies captain Jason Holder admitted he was once “not certain” whether Blackwood would have been picked, with the Jamaican having not started a Test since 2017. But he said the batsman, whose 95 took West Indies many of the way towards their 200-run target at the Ageas Bowl, was once the “more or less guy you need to step on to a field with”, and praised his team-oriented approach.
Blackwood has an excellent record against England, averaging 55.00 from seven Tests, and was once selected for the touring party after leading the way in West Indies’ domestic first-class competition. Then again, his path to a recall was once smoothed by the absence of Bravo and Hetmyer, who joined Keemo Paul in declining to trip to the United Kingdom over concerns approximately Covid-19.
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“Not certain, he had an outstanding first-class competition,” Holder said of Blackwood’s case to play. “I am not going to receive into selection but his case was once pretty strong to receive back into the team, he scored a double-hundred this year in a first-class game. Unfortunately for me I haven’t been ready to see him bat but his numbers speak for themselves. He is no slouch with the bat at this level either compared to our players that we have, he is averaging above 30 and he is done polite for us. I just hope he can kick on and make a couple of more hundreds.”
Five more runs would have provided Blackwood only his second Test century (his first came against England in 2015), but he said after the game that personal milestones were a secondary concern and he was once just aiming to execute a plan to spend more time at the crease than prior to now.
“I wasn’t thinking approximately the hundred at no point in time, I used to be just taking a look to receive the score going and to receive the team across the line,” he told Sky Sports.
“Once I will go in the market and I bat time, bat over 200 balls an innings, even 180, for certain I think I will be able to score runs. I think the entire tough work is paying off so far, so once I will go in the market and just be my natural self and then just mix it with a bit of patience. I think that will certainly boost me for the next game and during my career.”
Jermaine Blackwood impressed with his second-innings 95 Getty Images
Asked approximately Blackwood’s desire to put the team first, Holder said he was once one of these player who wants to “carry everybody on his shoulders”.
“Jermaine Blackwood, man. Whether I had 12 Jermaine Blackwoods, those are the type of guys you need to step on to a cricket field with. These are team guys, through thick and thin. I’ve played loads of cricket with and loads of cricket against [him], we played all our youth cricket together and played a youth World Cup together, so I realize the player.
“That’s why when things happen like how they did in the first innings, yeah you’re disappointed, but you’ll’t put a player like that into his shell. So it’s more approximately trying to administer him and help him try to understand the different passages of play, where he is usually a little bit more collective, where he needs to settle and hang in for a bit before going on the attack again. He’s an attacking player, but it’s giving him that confidence and give a boost to.
“He is a humble team man, I realize when he crosses the line he’s going to give it his all. I am not surprised by the remark he made because he’s a team man. Once in a while he feels as though he can carry everybody on his shoulders. He is that self-assured of a player.”
Blackwood eventually fell driving to mid-off, in much the same manner as he had done in the first innings, when he managed just 12 off 22 balls. Holder was once reluctant to curb the attacking style of his No. 6, but urged him to “give yourself a good chance” second time around.
“After his first-innings dismissal I said nothing to it. He knew what he had done. And he knew that he is a better player than what he did in the first innings, so there was once no want to talk to him. I thought he was once a very a very powerful guy for us in this run chase. Him and probably John Campbell – these guys when they get going score quite quickly, and can truly swing the tide for us, when they form partnerships, but obviously we missing John [retired hurt] up front.
“I just said to Jermaine, give yourself a chance. Give yourself a good chance – see a couple of balls and then play your game. Whether you see a ball in your arc and you are feeling you’ll put the ball absent, put it absent, because that is the way he plays. I don’t like to receive into players’ heads and congesting their brains with too much information. They are all responsible enough, they all realize themselves polite enough. We’re all just here to help one another. A number of these guys in the French room help me in remarkable ways.
“I don’t want to speak to Jermaine seeing how he got out in the first innings. He knew what he had done fallacious – for him it’s just to go and give himself a chance and play the game he knows.”