Jamaican middle-order batsman, Jermaine Blackwood has topped West Indies batting averages for a second straight tour, the only specialist Caribbean player to emerge unscathed from the miserable two-Test series against New Zealand.
The 29-year-old scored 216 runs at an average of 54 and was the only real bright spot as West Indies lost both Tests inside four days by an innings.
Blackwood, an attacking right-hander, was the sole West Indies batsman to pass 200 runs with the next being opener John Campbell with 110 runs.
Blackwood’s 104 in the second innings of the opening Test in Hamilton was the only time a West Indies batsman saw triple figures in the series. Despite his knock, West Indies lost by an innings and 134 runs before lunch on the penultimate day.
He followed that up with 69 in the first innings of the second Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, when the regional team slumped to an innings and 12-run defeat.
Leading opener Kraigg Braithwaite managed only 55 runs, Shamarh Brooks, struggled with 53 while Darren Bravo could only scrape 32 rubs.
Captain Jason Holder (1q03), who made a half century in Wellington and tail-ender Alzarri Joseph, who hit 86 in Hamilton (110), both passed 100 runs for the series.
