Jason Holder, West Indies and the promise of a better West Indies cricket team
“We have been inconsistent for the last number of years. I’m here to do a job and I’m trying to do the best I possibly can,” cried out a visibly frustrated Jason Holder, following a 133-run defeat to Pakistan at Abu Dhabi. Holder, the 36th Test captain of the West Indies in Test cricket and their 14th since Richie Richardson — precisely the time when their downfall began in Test cricket — is now latest in the line to try out his luck. In the last 19 years, West Indies have tried out as many as 14 captains, and none of them have been able to stem the rot; 4 of them did not even win a Test. West Indies have only plummeted and the criticism has grown harsher, with none sparing a thought ever for the young men who were handed out monumental tasks, irrespective of whether they were ready or not. Not demeaning anything which the current West Indies captain has achieved so far at the international stage, but before the final Test against Pakistan, it looked as if all that Holder had done in Test cricket was scoring a century against England a year and half back at home, and a cameo in a documentary on the glory days of cricket in the Caribbean.