A Conversation with Michael Holding
Thu, Jan 11, '18
"Those who got to be showing interest in Test cricket, don’t care": West Indies great Michael Holding
They say fast bowling is an inborn facet that once you find it, it is hard to let go. The setting is Newlands in Cape Town, where a gripping Test match is underway. The first few days of the India – South Africa series have already made heads turn. Even folks from Down Under, who have been treated to another one-sided Ashes series, have been paying attention. Their verdict is spot on. “Not even the Ashes has seen as riveting a session like what is going on in Cape Town.”
Since the 2016 Dharamsala Test, the world hasn’t seen a Test as exciting as this, where each session was an event in itself. On a pitch where there was something for everyone, fast bowlers were injecting new life into Test cricket. Holding, one of the faces of Windies’ fearsome foursome, is enjoying the setting. What Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada are doing in the second morning of the Test is transporting the yesteryear great back to when he was king.
“It is a rarity these days… to see such high-level fast bowling. I enjoyed it thoroughly. For a change there was a balance between bat and ball. And I was telling it to Sunil (Gavaskar). I don’t know how many of them would enjoy facing a spell like that, but that man (Gavaskar), all of five-foot five, did it against us. And without helmets. Now, that is character. You need them and you need matches like this to keep Test cricket healthy,” Holding says.
