On the day he top scored for West Indies in the first innings of the
second Test against India, Jermaine Blackwood addressed the press.
Excerpts from the conference:
On his half century..
It
is always good to play in front of my home crowd. This is the second
time I am playing for West Indies in front of my home crowd. I was
feeling confident but I was also a bit tentative at the start because
you always want to make runs at your home ground. So it was a good
feeling getting some runs today and I was happy that I was able to help
the team's cause and score some runs, just happy to being back in this
nick.
The ploy to counter-attack
That is
just normally how I play, ever since I started playing. So that's my
natural game. I try to score my first 20-25 runs quickly and tried to
use the pace of the ball. So that is how Jermaine Blackwood plays his
game.
Batting first..
Normally at Sabina
park the wicket is going to have a little bit in it for the pace
bowlers for a couple hours. This track is different and has some grass
so they will get assistance right through the match for pace bowlers. It
wasn't a wrong decision to bat first but we just didn't bat for a long
period. I guess next time we will have to do that.
India on top..
We
just need to worry about getting ten wickets. So the boys will go home
and have a good night's rest and come back fresh tomorrow morning and
have a go at them and build some pressure.
Attacking batting from team, were the batsmen in a hurry?
No
we weren't in any hurry. But you cannot just go there and keep losing
wickets and not score runs. So you have to go there with a positive
mindset and any scoring opportunity that comes your way you need to take
it. so that's what I did today.
The Indian bowling attack..
This
attack is a world class attack and you have the Test No.1 bowler,
Ashwin and he is very experienced and very good bowler. The seamers are
very consistent with their line and length and they are bowling to a
plan. So they are playing on our minds. So as batsmen we have to go and
counter that and try to go against that plan, assess conditions and
score runs at the same time. So this is a very, very good attack.
Partnership with Marlon Samuels..
When
I went out he was just giving me a lot of advice about staying positive
and running well between the wickets, try to score runs and wear down
the bowlers. As scoring chances came I played my shots. If I had come
back after lunch it would have been a different ball game because me and
Marlon had a nice partnership. For me to get out, it set the team back
and put the bowlers back on top. So I guess you have to learn from your
mistakes.
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