FLORENCE HALL, Jamaica – Damion Jacobs said there was no magic formula or secret to his success in the first “Test against Sri Lanka “A”, rather it was down to hard work, pure and simple.
The Windies “A” leg-spinner earned the Player-of-the-Match award following a haul of six wickets in the Sri Lankans’ second innings which propelled the hosts to an innings-and-13-run victory in the weather-affected match which ended at the Trelawny Multiplex on Saturday.
The hometown boy finished the match with 8-60, as Sri Lanka “A” were bowled out for totals of 212 and 139 – following on – in the match.
“It was good reward for the hard work that I have been putting in over the last 12 to 16 months,” said Jacobs. “It was all about knowing my role. Knowing when to attack. Knowing when to be defensive. Understanding the conditions and doing whatever the captain wanted me to do at any point in time in the match.
“I have taken a lot of confidence from it. I have been bowling well for the last 12 months or so. I also bowled well in a tour match last year against Pakistan and they are also a side that handles the spin well, so itshows that the hard work that I have put in is beginning to pay off.”
On team winning the first match, he said: “I think home advantage played a part and we adapted more quickly to the conditions than they did.”
On the challenge of bowling to the spin-adept Sri Lanka batsmen, Jacobs said: “They are very attacking against the spinners. They try to take charge of the spinners as quickly as possible, so as a spinner it was important to hold my ground and don’t try too much. As a leg-spinner however, it’s always a great battle when you have batsmen willing to come after you, but it is my intention to be successful. I know will try to be aggressive again in the second match and I will have to be prepared for it.”
On the conditions, he said: “It was not altogether favourable for spin bowling, due to the rain that fell during the game, but I still had a job to do. It stayed dry enough, long enough, for me to make the most of it.
On showing consistency with a follow-up performance, Jacobs said: “That is the aim. To be consistent. To know my role and perform my role. Knowing what I have to do and just doing it, sticking to the plan. I spoke to the coach before the game and we talked about understanding the role I have to play. Knowing when it is my time and when it is not my time. Bowling in tandem with someone like Rahkeem Cornwell. He is an attacking bowler. Knowing that I had to keep things going at my end.
On what the team needs to do to win the next match, he said: “We have to be consistent. There is no other way to do it. We batted pretty well in the first game and we bowled pretty well. We have got to come and do it again – and better. We just have to stick to the game plan and continue to work hard. Many of us were in Sri Lanka last year, when we lost that “Test” series. We know what it felt like to lose and we don’t want to have that feeling again. They have come to the Caribbean and we want to win, so that we can inflict upon them what we went through over there. We know it would be a major boost for us and West Indies cricket.”