'Holder will need to separate the politics' - Smith

Fri, Sep 18, '15

Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain who took charge of his country's Test fortunes as a callow 22-year-old in 2003, hopes that Jason Holder can put the team politics to one side when he takes over as West Indies' Test captain for the first time in Sri Lanka next month.

Holder, 23, was named as Denesh Ramdin's successor for the two-Test series that gets underway in Galle on October 14 after displaying impressive leadership credentials at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. Coming only months after a pay dispute led to West Indies' withdrawal from their tour of India in October 2014 - a move that landed the WICB with a multimillion dollar bill for compensation which is still being thrashed out - the team battled back from an early defeat against Ireland to reach the quarter-finals, where they eventually lost to the finalists, New Zealand.

Despite his tender years, Holder has already received the endorsement of one of the region's greatest players, Brian Lara, who praised his "demeanour" during that tournament and likened his stature to that of a young Clive Lloyd.