Disappointed that I didn’t take West Indies across the line, admits Jermaine Blackwood

When the West Indies were reduced to 27-3 at the Rose Bowl, all twitchy eyes were looking at Jofra Archer who was making the ball talk. On the back of Windies’ past record away from home with the bat, almost all sans a few ruled their chances out in the fourth innings, chasing 200. But one man, who was in amidst of all things- Jermaine Blackwood sealed the deal for the visitors. His 154-ball 95, where he took the attack to the English bowling pack of Archer-Wood-Anderson saw Windies overcome the English challenge with a four-wicket victory. 

However, he added that there was never any sort of pressure on the Jamaican man to do what he did. Recalling the confidence given to him in the dressing room, Blackwood admitted that both Phil Simmons and Jason Holder had asked him to merely play his natural game. The 28-year-old, on the back of his 700 run season with Jamaica ensured that Windies came out of the contest unscathed with a four-wicket victory.