London: West Indies all-rounder Roston Chase has set his sights on scoring at least one century in their upcoming three-match Test series in England. Chase had scored one century in West Indies’ remarkable series win over England last year.
“Once you do well in England, I think your stock as a cricketer goes up on the international scene,” he said in a video conference with reporters from the team’s training base at Old Trafford.
“I’ve always wanted to score a century in England. I scored a century against England in the Caribbean, but I would love to get one in England. As I said, when you score hundreds in England, I think, as a batsman, people take you more serious and rate you a bit higher. I’m looking to have a good series with the bat, score as many runs as possible. I will not be happy if I don’t get at least one century.”
The West Indies top-order, particularly openers Shai Hope and Kraigg Brathwaite had played a stellar role when they beat England in the Headingley Test in 2017. The pair’s form since has been up and down and with no Shimron Hetmyer or Darren Bravo, Chase is likely to have a bigger role to play as a batsman.
“It’s fair to say that we haven’t had the best time as a top-order,” Chase said. “But I think some of the guys have played 30 or more Test matches, so the guys are experienced and know how to get runs at that level – so we are ever-improving. It’s just for us to get that confidence and belief back in our batting in the top order and I think that will be fine because the guys know they have the ability.”
The series will consist of three Test matches and will be the first to be played amid the coronavirus pandemic which has frozen the cricket calendar since mid-March.
