Jason Holder has been captain of the West Indies in one form of the game or another since 2014 when a Cricket West Indies selection panel led by former captain Clive Lloyd selected him at just 23 years old.
The decision was controversial and the young cricketer has had to prove himself over and over, eventually losing his captaincy in the West Indies One-Day International and T20 teams.
In the Test arena though, Holder has reigned supreme, becoming the number-one Test allrounder in the world and just today, moved up to number two among pace bowlers after his seven-wicket match haul during the first #RaiseTheBat Test against England at the Ageas Bowl, which concluded with a four-wicket West Indies victory on Sunday.
Holder’s contribution to that Test win was noticeable and took me back to another performance from Holder of real worth, against the same opposition.
In 2019, the West Indies, courtesy of a 2-1 Test series win in the Caribbean against England, earned the Wisden Trophy which they are now in England attempting to defend.
In that series, the West indies also took a 1-0 series lead, with Holder also playing a leading role.
Batting first, the West Indies, despite 81 from Shimron Hetmyer and 54 from Roston Chase, only managed to score 289 against the bowling of James Anderson, 5-46, and Ben Stokes, 4-59.
But England were terrible with the bat, going bowled out for 77 thanks to Kemar Roach, 5-17, Holder, 2-15, and Alzarri Joseph, 2-20.
England, despite the failure, looked like they could still get a target they could chase and a way back into the Test after Kraigg Brathwaite, 24, and John Campbell, 33, were the only scores of note in the West Indies’ top order.
Hetmyer, batting at six, scored 31 but lost the plot to leave the West Indies 120-6.
The West Indies ended day two, 127-6, with Shane Dowrich unbeaten on 27 and Holder on 7.
The lead was 339 but with three days of cricket to play, the hosts certainly needed a bigger total to ensure they couldn’t lose the match.
Holder had only scored five in the first innings but on the third morning, he was a different man.
His determination to push the West Indies advantage was notable. The first session of the day was, in a word, sedate, as the side looked to bat time and leave themselves with a much bigger target than they currently had.
Then Holder began the counter-attack.
That counter-attack would end with the six foot, seven inch West Indies leader unbeaten on 202.
He would slam eight sixes in an entertaining knock that did more than just seal the West Indies’ victory but also cemented Holder’s place as one of the premier allrounders in the game today.
Batting with Holder was the perfect foil. Shane Dowrich would also get to an unbeaten century, scoring 116, but his innings was dwarfed by an example of controlled hitting that left Holder as just the third batsman in the history of the game to score a double century while batting eight or lower.
When Holder thumped Keaton Jennings to the boundary for four to bring up his double century, before immediately declaring, with the West Indies 627 runs to the good, he did two things.
He built belief in himself as a genuine allrounder, as well as showed the West Indies, in the way only a captain can, they could beat anybody.
The resultant performance with the ball where Roston Chase bagged 8-60, restricting England to 246, completing a 381-run victory inside four days, was a sign of that belief.
Paul-Andre is the Managing Editor at SportsMax.tv. He comes to the role with almost 20 years of experience as journalist. That experience includes all facets of media. He began as a sports Journalist in 2001, quickly moving into radio, where he was an editor before becoming a news editor and then an entertainment editor with one of the biggest media houses in the Caribbean.
'I'm up for the fight' - Roach ready to put in hard work needed to take Bangladesh wickets
West Indies fast bowler, Kemar Roach, insists he is ready for the challenge of trying to take wickets on Bangladesh pitches, despite the surfaces being more suited to spin-bowling.
Despite the presence of several spinners in the squad, the 32-year-old is expected to lead the West Indies bowling line-up, along with fellow pace bowlers Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph. If the dominance of spinners in the One Day International series, on pitches that offered very little assistance to pace bowlers, is anything to go by they will certainly have their work cut out.
Having been in Bangladesh on two prior Test series, Roach would know first-hand what it takes to succeed on spin-friendly terrain.
In 2011, he claimed 0 for 52 off 9 overs and 1 for 49 off 13.2 overs in the second Test of the series. When he returned in 2018, he claimed 1 for 74 off 18 overs in the first Test and 2 for 61 in 25 overs as Bangladesh made a mammoth 500 in the second Test.
“It mostly favours the spinners but I think there is enough there for fast bowlers to get something as well. It’s just about having your plans, executing, and being disciplined,” Roach told members of the media via a press conference from Bangladesh on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be tough, we know we have to bowl a lot more overs to get our rewards but once you are willing to put the work in you can get some rewards over here…so it’s going to be tough but I’m up for the fight.”
The Windies have had recent success with pace bowling in Bangladesh with Tino Best claiming a five-for in 2012 and Fidel Edwards claiming 8 wickets in the 2011 series.
'Extra time helps us prepare for 'difficult' conditions' - WI spinner Cornwall grateful for long lead-up to Test series
West Indies spinner, Rahkeem Cornwall, believes the unusually long preparation time before the start of the Bangladesh Test series has been beneficial for players needing to get used to ‘difficult’ conditions.
The regional team arrived in Bangladesh on January 10 and was required to quarantine for 7 days based on the country’s COVID-19 protocols. Since clearing that hurdle, however, the Test team has been free to train and will not start the series until February 1.
The Asian team is known for being particularly difficult to beat on their home turf and easily dispatched the West Indies 2-0 on their last visit in 2018. One of those advantages is said to be the team’s pitches.
“It has helped (extra time) you have to adapt to these conditions. These conditions are difficult to play in, so the more time we get to understand the conditions is the better it is for us,” Cornwall said.
“It spins a bit more here. It is always going to be drier than the Caribbean. So, we just have to adapt to it and play to the best of our ability,” he added.
The inexperienced West Indies team will be hoping for a better showing than in the recently concluded One Day International (ODI) series where the team was summarily swept aside 3-0. The ODI batting line-up found the top class Bangladesh spinners on the surfaces a difficult task to cope with.
England suffer Underhill Six Nations blow
Sam Underhill is the latest player to withdraw from England's Six Nations squad due to a hip injury.
Jack Willis has been called up as a replacement for back-row Underhill, who is another big loss for the defending champions.
Underhill played a big part in England's Six Nations and Autumn Nations Cup triumphs last year but sustained an injury blow before he was due to link up with the squad at St. George's Park on Wednesday.
Willis made his Test debut against Georgia last November and will be hoping to make his Six Nations bow in the coming weeks.
Underhill's withdrawal comes a day after Joe Launchbury and Joe Marler were ruled out due to a fibula stress fracture and personal reasons respectively.
England head coach Eddie Jones' preparations had already been disrupted last week when he was forced to go into self-isolation after his assistant Matt Proudfoot tested positive for coronavirus.
The Red Rose start the defence of their title against Scotland at Twickenham a week on Saturday.
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