The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

Mission-minded Holder embracing team over self

Sun, Nov 5, '17

 

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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Jason Holder stumbled across success earlier than most.
He gathered his maiden Test hundred in only his fourth match and had been entrusted with the one-day captaincy by age 23, and with just 21 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) behind him. Just months later and two shy of his 24th birthday, Holder was handed the cherished mantle of the Test captaincy, with just eight Tests under his belt.
And while one would have understood the temptation to chase personal glory, the giant yet mild-mannered all-rounder has preoccupied himself with the concept of team, and the role of his abilities in the overall collective.
He is almost philosophical as he articulates his role as a young captain and his expectations of the teams he leads, and deliberately never disconnects his performances from that of his unit.
Holder turns 26 today, and after 28 Tests, just over 1,200 runs and a shade over 50 wickets, says that he has found his footing in international cricket and now struck the right blend between leadership and player.

“When Clive Lloyd was chairman [of selectors], he told me it takes three years to understand Test cricket and I felt it strange at that time to understand it, but as I've played a lot more Test cricket, I've seen so many different things that it's clear to me that it probably would take you three, maybe four years to get attuned to actual Test cricket and the Test arena,” the unassuming Holder told CMC Sports in a wide-ranging interview prior to the start of the recent Zimbabwe series.