Holder Bounced Out

Shoulder injury leads to fast bowler losing BCA contract

By Randy Bennett

One of Barbados’ leading fast bowlers has been dealt an untimely bouncer by the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA).

Just over two years after making his debut for the West Indies, Chemar Holder has been dropped from the list of contracted cricketers by the BCA.

The 25-year-old has struggled to recover from a right shoulder injury which he first sustained while playing for the regional team in December 2020 and last represented Barbados against the Leeward Islands in February 2022.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY at his Rock Gap, Spooner’s Hill, St Michael home, Holder revealed that prior to his West Indies Test debut on the tour of New Zealand in 2020 he underwent an MRI which showed he had an impingement in his shoulder.

He said no definitive action was taken at the time.

Since then, Holder said he had seen several doctors and physiotherapists, with little success.

Holder, who has been contracted by the BCA since 2019, said he was recently notified via email by the BCA that he was being placed in the draft.

However, the former student of St Leonard’s Boys’, who has also played one ODI for the regional outfit, said he was not surprised by the recent developments as the BCA had downgraded his contract from an ‘A’ to a ‘C’ when he initially got injured.

Holder, who has taken 83 wickets in 24 first-class games, said he did not believe he had received the best treatment while recuperating from his injury.

“To be fair I felt like it was going to happen [losing his contract] based on the situation that I was in and based on me not playing cricket, so I always had it in my mind that it was liable to happen.

“But deep down I don’t think that the best treatment was given. I would say that some things were put in place in terms of sending me to different people and working with different people but basically I was hearing the same thing over and over and I was actually doing everything by the book,” Holder said.

“I was going to the physio, I was doing this for this amount of time, taking these, trying this and trying that and I did that for two years and nothing changed.”

Holder, who was a member of the victorious West Indies Under-19 team that won the 2016 World Cup, revealed he had spent tens of thousands of dollars of his own money trying to get his shoulder fixed, all while still under contract by the BCA.

He said after becoming fed up with the lack of progress on his injury, he made the decision to visit Dr Alejandro Badio in Miami, Florida, at The Surgery Center at Doral in April where he underwent surgery after being diagnosed with right shoulder impingement syndrome and a right shoulder latissimus strain.

He was given a recovery period of between three to four months and is scheduled to travel to England in August on a nine-week recovery programme to see a specialist at his own expense, which was recommended to him by former West Indies white ball captain Carlos Brathwaite.

Despite his challenges, Holder, who was once adjudged the fittest man in the West Indies team having aced the Yo-Yo endurance test, has not given up hope of making a full recovery and playing for Barbados or the West Indies again.

“Hopefully after the programme I am looking to go on is completed, once I’m finished everything which should be late this year, everything should be good and everything should be straight.

“I believe once I get my body back to total fitness where it was two years ago or even better I believe I can get back into a Barbados or West Indies team,” Holder said.

Repeated efforts to reach president of the BCA Conde Riley proved unsuccessful up to press time.

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb

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