West Indies deputy skipper, Jermaine Blackwood played down his verbal banter with his English counterpart Ben Stokes despite the fact that the umpires had to intervene and it took on the third day in Barbados. Blackwood was dismissed by Dan Lawrence for 102, but played beautifully in partnership with skipper Kraigg Brathwaite to keep West Indies in the game. At the close, they are 288 for four, 219 behind England’s first innings.
When Jermaine Blackwood had 82, he and Ben Stokes, the bowler, were seen engaging in a verbal banter and were in close contact, which led to a long chat between the senior umpire Joel Wilson, Stokes, and the English skipper, Joe Root. Both Blackwood and Stokes walked away smiling, and the Jamaican was quick to play the issue down. He said Stokes “likes to come at me” in their previous meetings, and did so again.
Here is the video of the incident:
Let the war of words commence! 🔥
A heated argument broke out between @JBlackwood100 and @benstokes38 and the umpires had to step in! 😱
📺 Keep watching the 2nd Test LIVE on #FanCode 👉 https://t.co/JTU44AriuP@windiescricket @englandcricket pic.twitter.com/15DhRMzoMt
— FanCode (@FanCode) March 19, 2022
Talking about the incident, Jermaine Blackwood, “I love playing against Ben Stokes, it’s always good fun. I love the battle, it pushes me even more when I’m batting. For a long time Ben Stokes has liked to come at me. Little bit of banter. I love it. I think that’s good for the cricket. I don’t have a problem with it, and it boosts my confidence as well, whenever I hear someone talking and coming at me, that even gets me on to stay more focused. I’m really glad he did that.”
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Lawrence’s late wicket English spirits up, and England’s spin-bowling coach, Jeetan Patel was impressed by England’s frontline spinner Jack Leach, who picked up one wicket.
Jeetan Patel said, “I think he bowled really well today. To be ultra-critical he maybe he got a touch full every now and then. He got the ball past the bat, he beat the inside edge, created edges. One of those days it just didn’t go to hand.”
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He further added, “From the outside that might seem like a nice way to put it. But the reality is he’s pretty shattered up there from the work he’s done today. 34 overs of graft after what we did in Antigua, the worm will turn for him. He just has to keep wanting to put those overs in.”
