SOMEONE HAD TO DO IT ...I’M ELATED IT WAS ME

SHAI HOPE cut a defiant figure after creating a piece of cricketing history at Headingley – and promised there was more to come.

Hope became the first player to score a ton in each innings of a match at this famous old ground – a feat Yorkshire greats Sir Len Hutton, Herbert Sutcliffe, Michael Vaughan and Joe Root have all failed to do.

With Kraigg Brathwaite falling five short of a second hundred himself, the Windies found two gems to shine as brightly and as proudly as the revellers at the 50th Leeds West Indian Carnival over the weekend.

It is incredible to think that these were Hope’s first and second Test match hundreds, but the way he played showed that he has a technique for the highest level and he cannot wait to go again at Lord’s.

“Someone had to do it, so I put my hand up for the team,” he said. “It was all about winning the game for the team and I’m elated that we’ve got the series back on track.

“I always believe in myself in whatever I do and it is good to get the monkey off my back, but I’m just pleased with the win.

“We’re Test cricketers for a reason. We have the fight, the talent and the belief to get the win. We need to make sure we put another performance together at Lord’s as close to perfect as possible.

“I didn’t know about the two hundreds until after I came off, and I’m pleased, but it is about the team and I want to be scoring centuries to help the team win.”