`….I think as a team we want to prove everybody wrong’
With the West Indies embarking on the historic three-Test series against England next month, middle order batsman, Jermaine Blackwood believes that the side thrives off of the “underdog tag” and is focused on coming out with a series win.
Speaking on the West Indies social media platform “Maroon Hangout” on Saturday, Blackwood said that he envisioned a good series between the two sides.
When asked about the West Indies, who are ranked eighth in Tests and their history of going in as unlikely winners, Blackwood explained, “I think as a team we strive off of that and we kind of feed from that because when people counting you out you want to prove them wrong and I think as a team we want to prove everybody wrong.”
The Jamaican right-hander went on to debunk why West Indies should wear that tag by referencing the talents among the current Test side.
“As you can see the team is growing, we have some very quality players in the team…Jason is the number one all-rounder, Kemar Roach is in the top 10 for bowling, Roston Chase is very solid in the middle, you have [Shane] Dowrich there and you have Kraigg [Brathwaite] and John [Campbell] up at the top putting on some very good partnership so I think we have a very good team and once we stick to our plans this will be a very good series.”
Blackwood also credited the team as being balanced, stating “I would say the team is pretty balanced between the batting and bowling so it’s just to go out there and combine everything together and put in a full team performance and once we do that over the years, it’s going to be problems, don’t care who we come up against once we can combine everything together, it is a problem for any team we are playing against.”
He suggested that it would be a good series if everyone pulls their weight.
“I think everybody is focusing on their game and once we can focus on our game and go out there and play our game as a team and everybody contribute, I think this series is going to be a very good series because we don’t come here to lose. We come here to win, we not going to play names or anything we just going to play our brand of cricket.”
Blackwood has played 28 Tests for the Caribbean side but was dropped in 2017 before making a return last year as a substitute for Darren Bravo against India in the Caribbean. Since then, Blackwood went on to finish the West Indies Four-Day Championship as the leading run getter. He notched up 768 runs at an average of 51 and a best of 248, paving the way for a return. This return has also garnered further traction since middle order batsmen, Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer opted out of the series.
Now, the 28-year-old is driven to spend extensive time at the crease and cement his place in the West Indies side.
“I’m just looking forward to the challenge. I just want to bat, bat and bat I don’t really care who they pick to bowl that don’t really faze me. I’m just here to play cricket,” Blackwood revealed.
He compared the two phases of his career in the West Indies side, noting “I’m focusing more now on batting balls. Once I bat balls I’m going to score runs because that’s natural. Once I spend time at the crease the runs will come that is my main focus to spend as much time as possible at the crease.”
Blackwood stated that he aims to take the series “Test by Test” but reckoned “for each innings I want to try and bat 200 deliveries. Once I bat over 200 deliveries I think that would be very good for me and the team because at one time I used to from the onset go…”
