Gareth Batty says he didn't want to let anyone down after England comeback
England are currently in Bangladesh playing their first of the two-match Test series and the centre of attraction, Gareth Batty said on Friday the only thing that kept running constantly on his mind was not to let anyone down.
The England cricket team was all over the news during the ODI series against the Bangladeshis for the right, as well as the wrong reasons. They became the first team to win an ODI series against the Bangladesh cricket team in their own backyard in over two years. However, the team did have a tough time as the home side were constantly trying to get under their skin.
The Test series though, was highly anticipated by the England cricket fans as it was supposed to be the return of their forgotten wizard- Gareth Batty. The off-spinner found a berth in the playing eleven in the first Test itself thus making a historic comeback into the national side after 11 years.
Ironically, the 39-year-old’s last Test match before the comeback was also against Bangladesh in 2005. Batty admitted that he was as nervous as he had ever been during the second day's play of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong, his first bowl for England in eleven years.
"It's been such a long period of time, I was probably more nervous than I ever have been in my career," Batty was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. He further added, "I just wanted to do well and not let anyone down. To pull on the shirt is an amazing feeling and to get a wonderful player like Tamim out was brilliant."
Speaking about the conditions in the sub-continent, he added, "It's always a real challenge on the sub-continent. The pressure's on and that's a brilliant thing, you should never shy away from that. As a spinner you should be relishing it, but that's not to say it's particularly easy. You've still got to bowl well against very fine players of spin."
Also read: 5 things which happened to England cricket since Gareth Batty last played a match
Batty’s inclusion for this tour was purely based on the stats that he had piled up against his name in the county season. The board felt that the stats were reasonable for a spinner but his addition to the squad would bring in more experience and depth. The Englishman was selected to make use of the sub-continent conditions to his advantage.
With the team already having two spinners in Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, one would hope that Batty does enough to seal a spot in the starting eleven for the second Test as well.