We Have A Point To Prove - Denesh Ramdin

During the first Test against England one of my dreams came through. I have watched the greats of the game playing at Lords and I too dreamt of being a part of that as well. It was a dream come through playing international cricket at Lords against England.

The atmosphere there is perfect for cricket. I wish I could play everyday on that ground. I am happy that I got a half century but unfortunately I did not get the opportunity to get my name on the famous centuries board in the visitor's dressing room. That was one of my goals for that game but I'm happy with the way I batted overall. My emphasis was on putting the team first rather than myself in order to ensure that we were in a much more controlled position in the Test match.

I think we played good cricket throughout the Test match but there are areas we need to work on as we prepare for the second Test match at Headingley. We need to bowl more wicket taking deliveries, our fielding needs to sharpen up and one of our top three batters will have to try hard to go on and get a big score. I was personally a bit disappointed with the way things went on the final day because we were going to challenge ourselves to get 401 on that pitch and start a series off 1-0 in our favour but it was not to be.

I do think that we have the players in our team who are good enough to go out there and give an even better show in the second Test match.

Each of us wants to go out there and perform 100% and prove a point. That point is that we are not the way some people perceive us. It would seem as though other teams think we are down and out and that we are the team everyone wants to take advantage of. Of course also with Brian's (Lara) retirement people seem to think that we cannot consistently score over 300 runs. We have to prove them wrong.

The guys have been putting in a lot of work in the net sessions and we are gelling even more.

On a personal note I am quite enjoying my stay over here so far. Talking to other current and former international wicketkeepers such as Adam Gilchrist, Mark Boucher and Ian Healy, who have all played in England before, they have said to me that this is the hardest place they ever kept wicket in their life.

It is mainly because the ball does swing late and does a lot off the seam as well before it reaches the bastman but it also moves a lot after it passes the bat. While I knew that before coming here, experiencing it is something different. I am now properly aware of the conditions here and what can happen as a result. The ball does swing and wobble after it passes the bat and as you saw in the first Test it was hitting my gloves sometimes and falling out.

After reviewing my performance in the first Test I have realized that there are a few minor adjustments I need to make for the rest of the trip here. One of the basic things I need to address are keeping my eyes on the ball longer and watch it carefully all the way into the gloves.

It was my first time playing under Ramnaresh Sarwan as captain and he gave me a lot of self belief. He also had a lot of positive words and he encouraged me to work hard and do the basics well. He also spoke to me about how important I am to the batting line up batting at number 8 for the team.

Overall I am happy with the team performance thus far. The support on and off the field has been excellent. Every time someone goes out to bat everyone was on the balcony looking on and supporting. If someone did not do well at any stage they continued to get the support of everyone in the dressing room. Even the guys who were not playing were always on the boundary supporting us and cheering us on from the sidelines.