Shai Hope hails Windies' fight after scoring first Test century
'We are here to play cricket, not let people run over us'
Saturday 26 August 2017 19:17, UK
Shai Hope was delighted with Windies' "fight" after he and Kraigg Brathwaite scored centuries on a day of toil for England at Headingley.
Hope (147no) compiled his maiden Test ton, in his 12th Test and 22nd innings, while putting on 246 for the fourth wicket with Brathwaite (134) on day two of the second Test.
Jason Holder's side, hammered by an innings and 209 runs in last week's day-night Test at Edgbaston, will take a 71-run lead into day three after closing on 329-5.
"The key word for us was fight," said Hope. "We are here to play cricket, not let people run over us with bat or ball. We now want to get the lead as big as possible and put England under pressure.
"I am pleased to get that monkey off my back - I have played a few games so to get that hundred was a relief. You do feel pressure, as a professional sportsman you want to perform to your optimum.
"I didn't think about getting the hundred as much as I would have expected - it was more about getting the team over the line and trying to bat as deep as possible.
"I just tried to bat long. We knew the ball was going to swing and you have to give the bowlers credit and respect the good balls. We just kept reminding ourselves what the plan was and stuck to the basics."
Brathwaite sealed his sixth Test ton with a six off part-time spinner Tom Westley, having passed fifty with a maximum off Moeen Ali.
The opener admitted he had altered his technique from the Windies' heavy defeat in Birmingham.
"The ball did a lot most of the day and we didn't want to bring a new batsman in," added the Barbadian. "We wanted to fight it out and once we could put away the bad balls that was the key."
"When you get momentum it helps and we just kept believing in ourselves, something we have been talking about.
"I have been working on playing straighter - sometimes my head can go to the off-side so I wanted to stay still at the point of delivery and get my weight into the ball.
"It's something I will continue to work on as facing the new ball is not easy."
Live coverage of the second Test continues on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Sunday, with a Coaching Clinic from Nasser Hussain and Rob Key on one-day batting preceding the live action at 11am.
You can follow over-by-over commentary and in-play clips with our live blog on Sky Sports digital platforms.
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