To look at the career numbers of Jermaine Blackwood, you might thing England have bigger concerns ahead of their three-Test series against West Indies than coming up with plans to deal with the Jamaican right-hander.

The 28-year-old has a Test average a fraction above 30, with just the one hundred from 28 games for the Men in Maroon so far. However, England would do well not to take the threat he poses lightly, and have been on the wrong end of a Blackwood special on more than one occasion.

His overall record against England is stellar. He averages 55.33 from six Tests against them, with his runs coming at a healthy strike-rate of 63.68 too. And these aren’t stats padded with cheap scores in run-fests either, but contain a succession of vital knocks that have helped keep West Indies on an even footing with England in recent times.

His maiden hundred came against England back in 2015 at Antigua, and helped keep the tourists’ first-innings lead within reach in a game the hosts drew with just three wickets in hand. He also played a vital hand at Headingley in 2017, when West Indies achieved one of their most famous triumphs of modern times.

That game is more often remembered for the efforts of Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope. The former fell within five runs of becoming the first-ever player to score two hundreds in the same first-class game at the Yorkshire ground before Hope achieved the feat himself, finishing unbeaten as West Indies chased 322 with five wickets in hand.

Blackwood’s role is often forgotten, but his first-innings 49 helped his side surge past 400 even after Hope and Brathwaite fell, while his thrusting 41, at almost a run a ball, ensured West Indies had time to chase their target in fading light on the fourth evening.

However, surely his finest performance came in the final Test of that 2015 series. West Indies had been described by incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves as “mediocre” in the lead-up to the series, and though they acquitted themselves creditably across the first two games, England seemed set to secure a rare series win in the Caribbean when West Indies slipped to 37-4 and then 124-7 in response to England’s first-innings 257, propped up by a cathartic Alastair Cook century.

Enter Blackwood, who smashed 85 off 88 balls to keep England’s lead within reach. The next highest score in the innings was 25. Still, even after England were skittled for 123, it looked like the hosts might fall just short as they slipped to 80-4. Once again it was Blackwood to the rescue, this time in sedate fashion, grafting 104 balls for his unbeaten 47 runs as West Indies triumphed by five wickets.

Blackwood’s Test exploits against all other sides have been patchy, and he has played only one Test – against India in 2019 as a concussion substitute – since 2017. He might not even have featured in the squad for this tour had Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo not pulled out. But he is coming off a stellar run of form for Jamaica. He crossed fifty at least once in seven of the eight games he played in the regional four-day competition earlier this year, including a career-best 248 in his most recent innings.

Blackwood has a liking for playing England, is in good touch, and has a point to prove. Joe Root, ignore him at your peril!