Rally round WI to win Test series

Amidst the euphoria of a wonderful West Indies victory by four wickets over England in the first Test at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, one has to be reminded that it’s a three-match series and winning it will be very sweet for several reasons.

Hence maintaining level heads instead of getting carried away will be key in the remaining matches – both at Old Trafford in Manchester – to secure an away series success against a major Test-playing country for the first time in a quarter of a century.

That feat was last achieved in 1995 by Courtney Walsh’s team against New Zealand in a two-match series, with a massive victory by an innings and 322 runs inside four days in the last Test at Wellington.

Summarised scores were:

West Indies 660 for five declared (169.2 overs) (Jimmy Adams 151, Brian Lara 147, Junior Murray 101 not out, Sherwin Campbell 88, Keith Arthurton 70, Shivnarine Chanderpaul 61 not out, Stuart Williams 26; Danny Morrison 2-82, Simon Doull 2-162).

New Zealand 216 all out (84.4 overs) (Darrin Murray 52, Stephen Fleming 47, Adam Parore 32, Bryan Young 29, Ken Rutherford 22; Courtney Walsh 7-37, Rajindra Dhanraj 2-97) and 122 all out (40.2 overs) (Darrin Murray 43, Stephen Fleming 30; Courtney Walsh 6-18, Rajindra Dhanraj 2-49).

It should also be noted that in a series involving three or more Tests, West Indies were last victorious against Australia 2-1 with Richie Richardson at the helm in 1992-93, thus lifting the Frank Worrell Trophy.

Knowing one’s history and that of the once powerful West Indies at a time when the word “Black” is in the spotlight and the phrase Black Lives Matter has become a very emotional one, winning this series for the Wisden Trophy will be even more telling for West Indies.

In the build-up to the current second Test, which started yesterday, a report on Cricinfo caught my attention in a big way.

Under the headline “Jason Holder’s Windies ready for the ‘unbelievable’, it was stated that the question left West Indies captain Jason Holder somewhat disgruntled.

The question, asked during the virtual media briefing on Wednesday was: “The West Indies, you are pretty much on the verge winning a Test series. I mean it is unbelievable to be saying this, but are the guys gee-ed knowing that they are just one Test win away from winning a Test series in England in some 30-odd years?”

According to the report, Holder heard it stone faced. He did well to put on a smile as he started to respond, but made it clear that he was not impressed with the usage of one specific word.

“Not sure I like the words in terms of ‘unbelievable’,” Holder said, rubbing the back of his head with his two fingers, trying hard to hide his annoyance.

“But, look, this series is still wide open. There’s 10 days of cricket left. It is one day at a time for us. England is a very good cricket team, they have got some world-class players, so we have got our work cut out in order to win another game. Again, I don’t like the word you use in terms of ‘unbelievable’, but if that’s the word you choose to use, fair enough.”

The report further stated that West Indies started their training on Monday in Manchester, but not once has Holder uttered the word history in the dressing room or various group chats he has been part of. He wouldn’t say it, but it might be because he does not want to saddle his team with any added pressure.

“No, I haven’t mentioned anything about history to the guys. Again, it is hard for us to get caught up in the peripheral stuff. We are here to play cricket. And we are here to win the series,” Holder said.

“That’s the only thing I am going to shout to the guys, I’m going to spoon feed: how are we going to win a cricket game, what do we need to do in order to win a cricket game. I know once the guys share as much information together, to get that end result, afterwards we can look back and we can feel pleased with whatever we achieved as a group.”

Now, what Holder has said points to his consistency in always looking ahead instead of getting too much into history. At the same time, however, being reminded of what has transpired over the years is crucial to going forward.

The win itself in Southampton was most telling and there will always be an historic element about it. Coming as it did in a “bio-secure” atmosphere with the global COVID-19 pandemic still very much present, and played without any spectators at a ground for the first time in Test cricket, must be underscored.

And Holder and his team ought to be reminded of the rich history of West Indies cricket.

If we are excited about winning the first Test, can you imagine what it would be like to capture this series?

Heads of Governments in the region might suddenly wake up to the fact that they need to start pumping some money into the game instead of just the pretty talk we have been hearing for over three decades now.

Do you recall when Pat Rousseau, then president of the West Indies Cricket Board (now renamed Cricket West Indies), was blasting Caricom Governments back in 1988 for a sudden halt in retainer contracts being offered to top regional cricketers?

While things have changed to some extent, politicians should not only get excited over a West Indies victory with a series still to be completed but tell us more about how they intend to help a financially ailing CWI.

West Indies’ performances against England in Tests since 2015 have been encouraging, winning five matches while losing four. Against all other teams, however, they have won only seven Tests in 34 matches combined.

They have a 50 per cent win record against England and just 20.59 per cent against other teams.

For Holder, having won four of his six Tests as captain against England is something to beat his chest about.

And to capture this series will be very special as West Indies have not triumphed in a Test series in England since 1988 when Viv Richards’ side won 4-0.

Keith Holder is a veteran, award-winning freelance sports journalist, who has been covering local, regional and International cricket since 1980 as a writer and commentator. He has compiled statistics on the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) Division 1 (now Elite) Championship for over three-and-a-half decades and is responsible for editing the BCA website (www.bcacricket.org).
Email: Keithfholder@gmail.com