West Indies and England are currently facing off against each other in the second test match of their ongoing 3-match test series. In the match being played at the Kensington Oval Barbados, Day 4 is underway and we have seen a lot of drama already. The most interesting and important of them was undoubtedly the beef between Jermaine Blackwood and Ben Stokes that we saw today.
West Indies batsman Jermaine Blackwood played phenomenally well today. He scored 102 off 255 before being lbw’ed by Dan Lawrence with a tricky delivery. He played his entire knock knock in style and completely dominated the sturdy England bowling order.
However, when he was batting at 82*, he got into a war of words with England all-rounder Ben Stokes. By the looks of it, it seemed like Ben Stokes had initiated the fight after which Blackwood gave him an apt reply.
Ben Stokes instigated Blackwood not once but twice in the same over even after the umpire warned him and thus the senior umpire Joel Wilson had a word with Ben Stokes and Joe Root. After that, it was not repeated.
However, after departing, Jermaine Blackwood said that his fight with Ben Stokes was sporting and nothing to create a controversy around. He said that Stokes always gets at him like this when they come face to face.
“I love playing against Ben Stokes, it’s always good fun,” Blackwood said. “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.