Middle order batsman, Nkrumah Bonner, believes that batting will be in the limelight and will be West Indies’ biggest challenge if they are to come out successful in the upcoming test series against England.
Bonner was at the time responding to a question posed by Stabroek Sport at the West Indies team’s virtual press conference yesterday.
He stated, “Well, over the past year the batting has been struggling, the bowling has been holding up its end of it, I think with the batting if we can score the runs and put it on the board that would give us the best chance of coming out successful on this tour.”
At 31-years-old, Bonner is poised to make his Test debut in the three-Test series which is set to bowl off next Wednesday. However, with two T20 Internationals (including one against England in England back in 2011) Bonner reckons that the conditions have not changed that much since then.
As such he recommends that the key to batting in English conditions would be to play the ball as late as possible.
“You just have to play the ball late, you have to be patient and try to rotate the strike as much as possible,” he declared.
Despite his limited international experience, Bonner said that his time in the first-class arena in the Caribbean has helped fortify his ability as a capable batsman.
“I’ve gotten a lot of experience in the first-class seasons as well over the years and I’m hoping to use that experience moving forward…It would have benefited me a lot, first-class cricket in the Caribbean is very difficult and it posed a lot of challenges so I’m hoping to carry that over to Test cricket,” the Jamaican said.
As a batsman, Bonner also indicated that he has not set himself any target but rather to fulfill his primary role.
“My primary job is to make runs. I’m not a goal setter. I have a general plan but I go out there and value my innings and do my best every single day,” Bonner noted while adding “the mental strength, I’ll need that up here and also the discipline and the calmness at the crease and also the ability to soak up pressure and know your time will come in the game.”
Bonner, who also proved himself to be a capable leg-spinner, said that the spinners will not have a huge role in the conditions. He stated, “In England it is not spinner friendly, mostly seam, if the spinners do play they are in a more in a containing role especially in the first innings and in the last innings they can work wonders.”
