In assessing the cricketing career of David Anthony Jerome Holford, his leadership qualities will always stand out.
The former Barbados captain and West Indies allrounder died at his home on Monday at the age of 82 following a lengthy illness.
A leg-spin bowler and lower middle-order batter, Holford played 24 Test matches between 1966 and 1977. He scored 768 runs including one century and three half-centuries at an average of 22.58 and took 51 wickets (ave: 39.39) with a best haul of five for 23 in a winning cause against India at Kensington Oval in 1976.
His century (105 not out), in only his second Test, was a match-saving effort against England at Lord’s in 1966 as he added an unbroken 274 for the sixth wicket with his cousin and captain Garry Sobers (now the Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers), who made an unbeaten 163.
Faced with a deficit of 86, West Indies were 95 for five in the second innings when Holford joined Sobers. West Indies declared at 369 for five.
Scores were: West Indies 269 and 369-5 declared. England 355 and 197-4.
West Indies won the series 3-1.
In 99 first-class matches, Holford scored 3821 runs including three centuries (ave: 31.31), took 253 wickets (ave: 31.99) with best figures of eight for 52 and held 83 catches.
Blessed with outstanding players, Holford was Barbados’ most successful captain in the Shell Shield Championship, leading the side to five of six titles they captured in the 1970s.
He was the proud Barbados skipper as well in winning the first two regional one-day (Gillette Cup 50-over) Tournaments in 1976 and 1977. (See later in the column the years and successful four-day and one-day teams Holford captained).
Holford was also a member of the Barbados teams, which captured the first two Shell Shield titles in 1966 and 1967 under the captaincy of Sobers.
Significantly, Holford became the first player to achieve the double of 1 000 runs and 100 wickets in the Shell Shield Tournament.
Regarded as an astute leader, several observers reckoned he should have captained the West Indies team.
In a rare instance, while studying at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies in 1963, he represented Trinidad & Tobago against Barbados at Kensington Oval.
Holford played in the Kerry Packer World Series in 1978.
Locally, he distinguished himself at the famous Spartan Club of which he became captain and president after leaving Harrison College.
Under Holford’s captaincy, Spartan’s capture of the First division (now known as Elite division) Championship in 1967 and 1968 stood out, but it must also be noted that he was a key member of the Queen’s Park club’s back-to-back titles in the Barbados Fire Cup (then 40-over) in 1975 and 1976.
In fact, Holford was Man Of The Match in the 1975 Final against long-standing arch-rivals Empire, grabbing six for 34 and scoring 34 not out as Spartan, captained by Nolan Clarke, won by five wickets.
Holford was the captain in 1976 with a 14-run win against Banks in the Final.
Along with off-spinner Tony Howard, Holford formed a very potent spin attack for Spartan, which extended into the Barbados team.
An agronomist by profession, Holford also served with distinction as a Board member of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA). He rose to the post of First vice-president, apart from being a Barbados selector and successful team manager.
In addition, he was chairman of the West Indies selection committee as well as team manager during the 1990s.
Holford served as secretary of the West Indies Players Association. He was also a columnist for the Carib Cricket Circle.
Among those paying tribute to Holford were president of Cricket West Indies, Ricky Skerritt, BCA president Conde Riley and former Spartan and Barbados player Henderson Springer, who is now the BCA Head of Coaching and High Performance,
“David Holford epitomized the values of cricket both on and off the field, and was the quintessential West Indies cricketer and ambassador. As a player, he was a top-quality allrounder and captain who gave his utmost at all levels,” Skerritt said.
“He had a hand in the development of several young players across the region, not just in cricket but in several fields of endeavour. David’s legacy is therefore one of service and dedication to Barbados and West Indies cricket,” Skerritt added.
Riley remarked: “As an administrator, David was a no-nonsense person. He always spoke about what Barbados’ cricket meant to Barbados and he paid a lot of attention to the preparation of our national teams.”
Springer described Holford as “a serious, loyal, passionate and dedicated servant of the game of cricket in varying capacities”.
As manager of the champion Barbados first-class team in 1997, I recall Holford’s joy following a dramatic 81-run win against the Leeward Islands at Warner Park in St. Kitts after leg-spinner Dave Marshall snatched the last three wickets in four balls in the penultimate over.
Holford asserted he had “never seen such a dramatic victory in first-class cricket”.
“This is a stunning win,” he said.
“At the start of the penultimate over, I just figured we were going through the motions, but then three wickets in one over… I don’t think anyone could really have called that one.
“It’s really a stunning victory. It was a tremendous turnaround. I have never seen such a dramatic victory in first-class cricket. It was a tremendous victory and shows that a game is not over until, as they say, “the fat lady sings’,” Holford said.
Following are the Barbados champion four-day teams (Shell Shield) under the captaincy of Holford, with matches played in brackets as well as points attained:
1972 – David Holford (captain), Keith Boyce, Robin Bynoe, Nolan Clarke, Geoffrey Greenidge, Vanburn Holder, Tony Howard, Peter Lashley, Hallam Moseley, Seymour Nurse (four), Darnley Boxill, David Murray (two).
Points: Barbados 38 (3 wins), Guyana 26, Jamaica 18, Trinidad & Tobago 16, Combined Islands 14.
1974 – David Holford (captain), Gordon Greenidge, Vanburn Holder, Collis King, Peter Lashley, David Murray, Albert Padmore (four), Gregory Armstrong, Nolan Clarke, Geoffrey Greenidge (three) Keith Boyce, Tony Howard, Garfield Sobers (2), Stephen Hinkson (one).
Points – Barbados 32 (2 wins), Trinidad & Tobago 26, Jamaica 24, Guyana 20, Combined Islands 14.
1976 (NB: Shared title with Trinidad & Tobago) – David Holford (captain), Nolan Clarke, Wayne Daniel, Stephen Farmer, Geoffrey Greenidge, Collis King, Ricky Skeete, Emmerson Trotman (three), Teddy Foster, Joel Garner, Lawrence Maxwell (two), Gregory Armstrong, Gordon Greenidge, Albert Padmore (one).
Points – Barbados 20 (1 win), Trinidad & Tobago 20, Jamaica 18, Combined Islands 8, Guyana 2.
1977 – David Holford (captain), Stephen Farmer, Joel Garner, Gordon Greenidge, Vanburn Holder, Collis King, David Murray, Albert Padmore (four), Nolan Clarke, Desmond Haynes, Emmerson Trotman (three), Wayne Daniel, Joseph Newton, Ricky Skeete (one).
Points – Barbados 36 (three wins), Combined Islands 24, Trinidad & Tobago 24, Jamaica 6, Guyana 0.
1979 – David Holford, Lawrence Maxwell (captains) (two matches each), Sylvester Clarke, Alvin Greenidge, Nigel Johnson, Malcolm Marshall, Thelston Payne (four), Clyde Beckles, Richard Straker (three), Teddy Foster, Joel Garner, Desmond Haynes, David Murray (two), Hartley Alleyne, Hubert “Ellis” Brathwaite, Wayne Daniel, Gordon Greenidge, Collis King, Albert Padmore (one).
Points – Barbados 30 (two wins), Trinidad & Tobago 24, Combined Islands 20, Jamaica 10, Guyana 0.
Gillete Cup champions – Teams for the Final:
1976 – David Holford (captain), Gordon Greenidge, Joseph Newton, David Murray, Collis King, Stephen Farmer, Emmerson Trotman, Keith Boyce, Ricky Skeete, Vanburn Holder, Wayne Daniel.
1977 – David Holford (captain), Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, David Murray, Collis King, Emmerson Trotman, Richard Straker, Ricky Skeete, Stephen Farmer, Joel Garner, Vanburn Holder.
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 (rebranded Elite in 2012) Championship for four decades and provides statistics and stories for the BCA website (www.barbadoscricket.org). Email: Keithfholder@gmail.com
