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Windies coach Stuart Law backs Shai Hope for great things
Stuart Law believes West Indies may soon have a modern "great" on their hands in Shai Hope.
The tourists' 23-year-old batsman underpinned their shock five-wicket victory over England last week with a breakthrough personal performance as he became the first player in Headingley's long history to hit a century in each innings.
Hope followed his maiden Test hundred, in his 12th match, with an unbeaten 118 as West Indies knocked off 322 to level the Investec series.
They are 9/1 outsiders with Sky Bet to win the third Test at Lord's, with England 2/7 and the draw 9/2.
As Law fine-tuned preparations for this week's decider which starts on Thursday, he had a little ammunition for those who got stuck into West Indies from the sidelines – such as former England captain Nasser Hussain, for whom he has prescribed "humble pie" following some of his mid-match comments in Leeds.
Hope's potential was uppermost in his mind, though.
"He's a rock, isn't he?" said Law, who recalled a telling conversation before start of play on the final morning in Leeds.
The Windies coach suggested to the young Bajan that the tourists could bat till tea, then see if there was still a shot at pushing for victory.
Law said: "He looked at me and I said 'What's wrong with that?'. He looked at me (again), shook his head and shrugged his shoulders – and I said 'Okay, what's your plan?'
"'We're going to win', (he said). That's God's honest truth ... (and) he went out and won the game."
It was an exchange which confirmed to the Australian he was dealing with a special cricketer.
He added: "I think the fact he wasn't over the top in his celebrations just means he's hungry, he's driven. He doesn't want to stop where he's at now; he wants to keep going. I think that's a great sign.
"He's a tough cookie. He's pretty good now, but he's got the potential to go great."
The Windies belied general expectations last week, but did not surprise Law.
He said: "I'm immensely proud of the boys ... to come out and produce what they did was an amazing turnaround.
"I did say we can play the game. A lot of people weren't giving us that credit."
Among them was Law's ex-Essex team-mate Hussain, who suggested in his newspaper column that West Indies had let the match slip on day four and betrayed a Twenty20 approach in the field.
Asked for his response to Sky broadcaster Hussain, Law said: "Go back and watch day five. Nasser's entitled to his opinion – people make assumptions all the time. But he doesn't know the group of players ... he doesn't even know me, (even though) I played with him at Essex.
"He doesn't know the characters that are inside that dressing room.
"Never once did I believe that the T20 mind-set (was part of it) – not a lot of these players play T20 cricket anyway.
"I think it was great we sent a big humble pie to go and chomp on in the commentary box."
Law retained faith in his charges, even after their first-Test trouncing at Edgbaston.
"Deep down? Yes, I did," he added. "I've seen these guys at close quarters; I've talked to them. Just the responses they give you, there's immense confidence there.
"There's probably a couple that doubted their ability to cope at this level, but I hope those doubts are now well and truly put to bed and they can start flourishing.
"I think I learned a bit (at Headingley), and I think the players actually learned themselves they can go out and achieve against a world-class attack.
"It's not going to be easy. We're going to have to work twice (as hard) as we did at Headingley, but we know we can stand up and fight."