Taylor: I had to give it a good burst
Sun, Mar 23, '08
West Indies fast bowler Jerome Taylor who was the leading wicket taker after the first day of the opening match of the Digicel Test series said that he needed to step up to the plate and deliver for his team after the Sri Lankans cruised along for most of the day.
“Somebody needed to put their hand up and really come out and pull off a top performance for the team today and I put myself in the forefront,” said the 23 year old Jamaican who picked up three wickets for 59 runs from 18 overs.
“I just told myself that I had to go out and give it a good burst and it worked for us,” Taylor told journalists shortly after the first day’s play ended with Sri Lanka on 269 for 4.
Questioned about the reason for his double strike in the 83rd when he removed Kumar Sangakkara (50) and Thilan Samaraweera (0) in the space of three balls, Taylor said he was relaxed.
“That has to do with the state of mind I was in, everything was feeling alright while running in so I just decided to let myself go and get the ball in the right area,” Taylor explained.
Asked what he attributed his success to Taylor said that he had put in a lot of hard work and was determined to do well.
“It also has to do with the environment you are in as a player, I am pretty relaxed at the moment and I am confident in my ability and I am pretty happy with the team,” said Taylor who is appearing in his 17th Test match.
Looking ahead to the second day’s play Taylor said that since the team finished the day on a high note with his double strike in the 83rd over, they needed to capitalize on the momentum.
“The thing is to keep pressing and move on from where we left off, we finished on a high so hopefully the guys can come tomorrow and lift the game a notch,” Taylor reasoned.
And despite Sri Lanka dominating most of the day’s play he still thinks the game is open.
“At the moment the game is pretty wide open even though it is a flat track, for anyone to get an outright victory they would have to get 20 wickets but it is still possible” Taylor said.
And commenting on the pitch which Malinda Warnapura, who scored a maiden Test hundred, said was good for batting, Taylor said he was disappointed that it was so overly in favour of the batsmen.
“It is far much worse than we (the West Indies team) expected but we all know that this is Guyana, we weren’t looking for a flier but at least the team was looking for something which would assist the fast bowlers more,” Taylor said.
