Jermaine Blackwood

Jermaine Blackwood is an aggressive lower-middle order batsman from the West Indies. Blackwood, who hails from Jamaica, first got noticed when he was selected in the West Indies squad for the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in 2010.

He had a wonderful 2013-14 first-class season, where he was the top-scorer in the Regional four-day competition with 611 runs. After he scored a hundred against the touring Bangladesh A team, the national selectors awarded him with a place in the Test squad during the series against New Zealand in 2014.

At that time, he was chosen as the replacement for Marlon Samuels, who had scored a pair in West Indies' 186-run loss in the first Test in Jamaica. In his debut innings, he scored a well-compiled 63, helping the West Indies put on 460 in response to New Zealand's first innings score of 221.

The hosts went on to win the game by 10 wickets and squared the series 1-1, with one Test remaining in the series. Blackwood though was left out of the final Test of for an extra bowling option. Apart from his aggressive batting style, Blackwood is a handy off-spinner as well.

His maiden Test ton came in his sixth Test appearance, against England in April 2015. He was also instrumental in West Indies' series-leveling win in the final Test of the series, scoring 85 and 47* and was rightly adjudged the Man of the Match for his performance.

By Sidhant Maheshwari