Holder committed to building on series gains

Eighth on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings currently, Windies have been around the bottom of the table for several years now. But a recent upswing in their performances against higher-ranked teams – characterised by away Test match victories over England and Pakistan and a drawn home series against Sri Lanka – coupled with a resurgent pace unit, have raised hopes of a brighter future.

“We need to continue to build and not rest on our laurels. Our number one goal is to be the No.1 team in the world, so there is a lot to improve on,” Holder said on Tuesday, 12 February.

Windies’ pace attack was the driving force behind their triumph over England. Kemar Roach led the charge with 18 wickets in three Tests at 13.88.

After his five-for sent England hurtling to 77 all out – the lowest Test total in Bridgetown – and drove Windies into the series lead, he followed up with three successive four-wicket hauls across Antigua and St Lucia.

But Windies’ batting let them down in the final Test, collapsing twice, leading to a 232-run defeat.

“We have got to keep improving in the three facets of the game and be clinical and lot more consistent,” Holder said. “Our bowlers have done an outstanding job. It is up to our batsmen to contribute more.”

Holder reserved praise for Roston Chase, who compiled another fourth-innings masterpiece to save Windies from an embarrassingly low total. Walking in at 10/3 and battling for form after scores of 54, 0, 4 and 0, Chase held his guard up superbly to see Windies through a collapse and rally around with the lower order.

“I had a chat with Roston before his innings,” Holder said. “He was a little disheartened with his dismissals in this series, so it is good to see him knuckle down and get some runs, especially in the context of the day. It would have been easy for us to be rolled over.”