It does not matter as much as how much courage one has to do that work. The West Indies cricket team has been struggling for the last many years, but still, sometimes some such players emerge from this team, who may not be at par with the world's greats in terms of ability, but their courage is no less than anyone else.
On the first day of the Test match at Trent Bridge, England scored 416 runs with aggressive batting. On the second day, West Indies' first innings started and the openers made a strong start for it. Captain Craig Brathwaite and Michael Lewis shared a 53-run partnership. However, within the next 31 runs, West Indies lost both their wickets and Kirk McKenzie, who came at number three, also got out. After losing 3 wickets for just 84 runs, it seemed that once again the Windies batting would collapse but this did not happen and the reason for this was Kavem Hodge, who was supported by Alik Athanase.
A day of celebration for the population of 74 thousand
Playing only his fourth Test match, 31-year-old Hodge made England bowlers yearn for a wicket. He settled himself at the crease by playing cautiously in the beginning and thereafter continued to play without any trouble. Even England bowlers used short balls against Hodge, which was considered to be the weakness of this batsman, but this right-handed batsman successfully faced it as well. Then in the 66th over, that opportunity came when Hodge scored the first century of his Test career by hitting a four on the fourth ball of Ben Stokes.
Hodge completed this century in just 143 balls and with this he did a special feat. Hodge is a resident of the Caribbean country Dominica and became only the second batsman from his country to score a century in Test cricket. Veteran commentator Ian Bishop also praised him and said that Dominica, a country with a population of only 74 thousand, would be very proud of Hodge. In the end, he was out after playing a memorable innings of 120 runs.
Athenaz's excellent innings too
Hodge was well supported by number four batsman Athenaz. The left-handed batsman, who made his Test debut against India last year, also made a fighting start and faced the England bowlers firmly and saved his wicket. Then when he got the attention, he started attacking, which also boosted Hodge's morale. Both of them did not let any wicket fall in the second session and continued the same style in the third session as well. However, he could not complete his century and was out after scoring 82 runs. There was a tremendous partnership of 175 runs between the two for the fourth wicket, which tired the England bowlers badly.
