Dominican Kavem Hodge hits maiden Test century, PM Skerrit express pride

Dominica: A cricketer from the Commonwealth of Dominica, Kavem Hodge, scored his maiden Test match century against England on day two of the second Test at Trent Bridge with 120 runs from 171 balls.

This significant development pushed West Indies to 351-5, leaving them trailing by just 65 runs. With this century, Hodge also became the first West Indies batter to score a Test ton in England since 2017.

Following this achievement, the Prime Minister of Dominica, Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit, also took to Facebook to congratulate the cricketer. He remarked, “Dominica is immensely proud of Kavem Hodge's remarkable achievement in scoring his maiden Test century during the 2nd Test match against England.”

PM Skerrit continued to say that his performance stood as a phenomenal example of perseverance and dedication and added, “On behalf of the Government and the people of Dominica, I extend our most heartfelt congratulations to him.”

It is to be noted that Hodge showed great fighting spirit with another Dominican, Alick Athanaze, both of whom made the batting look easy. Athanaze secured fifty off 67 balls, while Hodge completed his half-century off 86 balls.

As both of then continued to hit runs, England captain Strokes came to the field and ended the superb partnership taking wicket of Athanaze which was caught by Mark Brook. Athanaze and Hodge added 175 runs for the 4th wicket.

Following this, Kavem Hodge completed his maiden Test century with a straight boundary off 143 balls. Mark Wood hit a top speed of 97.1 mph during the morning session and settled between 93-94 mph for the rest of the day. 

Hodge called it ‘brutal’ after the match and noted, “It is not every day that you rock up and you face someone that's facing over 90, that’s bowling 90 miles an hour every single ball.”

He also mentioned that there was this one point that he made a joke with England fast bowler Mark Wood saying, “Hey, I have a wife and kids at home,” to which he started to laugh. The cricketer added but it was good and he thinks that it made the century a lot more satisfying.