West Indies skipper recalls some of his best moments

Scoring a double century at home in front of his home crowd at Kensington Oval, or maybe being part of the 2016 World Cup West Indies Champions.

These are two of the outstanding moments which West Indies Captain Jason Holder ranks among the best cricketing moments in his career thus far.

“Prior to the double hundred, I was in the UK doing rehab on a small tear in my shoulder,” said Holder, who went on to mention that as he was running on a treadmill, he started to imagine what it would be like to score a hundred in front of his home crowd.

He said he fell deep into thought and the time flew past so much so that he went over the time he was supposed to be running for as it felt so real at the time.

It’s been just over a year, as his double century came against England in January 2019. Batting at number 8, he became only the third person in Test cricket to accomplish this feat at that number and at the opposite end was teammate and also fellow Barbadian Shane Dowrich, who went on to score his third century.

The soft-spoken and polite six-foot, seven-inch giant has been the leader of the West Indies team during some turbulent times and despite this, his form was consistent and improving.

“I look back at the innings and I remember every single ball.”

But he admitted that to narrow down his best cricketing moment would be a difficult task.

A five-wicket Haul in Sharjah came in 2016 as he finished with 5-30 to dismantle Pakistan for 208. West Indies went on to win the Test match by five wickets after Pakistan scored 281 and 208 and the West Indies scored 337 and 154/5.

He also noted that being part of the West Indies team that won the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup in India was another highlight. Holder did not play in the match, but said that “watching Carlos Brathwaite work his magic” in the last over with the six hitting and the victory was a moment to remember. (CG)