Jason Holder: Growing into the captain West Indies cricket needs

The shadows do not quite scream intimidation but Holder has an aura of his own

6 feet 7 inches tall, with glaring eyes and a tall, lanky frame, this West Indian seamer will have a special place in the history books of West Indian cricket. No, we are not talking about Sir Curtly Ambrose.

Notoriously short of words but insanely high on the devastation chart, Ambrose will be an enigma in West Indian cricket, but so will this man, whose only similarity with Ambrose is his height. We are talking about the young, talented, criticised, humiliated, shrewd, unassuming West Indian Test and ODI skipper, Jason Holder. 

Holder and Ambrose have little in common. The knighted fast bowler finished his career with 405 and 225 Test and ODI wickets respectively, and a reputation as the most lethal bowler of his generation. Holder, on the other hand, has 41 and 84 wickets at this point with averages hovering around the 35 mark as opposed to Ambrose's 20-ish.

Ambrose could melt the steely Steve Waugh with the fire in his eyes while the glint in Holder's eyes might barely be enough to light a matchstick. They need a leader who can lift them up from their chaotic, helpless state. They need Holder. West Indies cricket needs a Jason Holder more than a Curtly Ambrose right now.

The call of duty

He is a leader of men and that is exactly what West Indies need right now.

When elevated to captaincy two months before the 2015 ODI World Cup, Holder had nothing but optimism. His numbers were abysmal and at 23, he was the youngest to don the role of captain of the West Indies cricket team.

But the experience of leading Barbados and junior teams prompted West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) head selector, Clive Lloyd, to take a step that shocked the Caribbean Islands.

With just 21 ODI appearances to his name and a bits and pieces player at the national level, Holder had not yet dipped his feet in the oceans of International cricket. Yet here he was, offered the role of captaining the West Indian team, a team in turmoil and distress.

Surely, Lloyd was insane. Ambrose, the bowling coach at the time, thought so too.

He suggested that Holder was too young and inexperienced to take up this responsibility, especially with a World Cup looming. But Lloyd was unmoved. Perhaps, he knew a thing or two about captaincy that Ambrose did not. 

Was he right, however? 

11 wins in 41 ODIs since taking over and two wins in 15 Tests with win percentages of 27 and 13 suggest that Holder has been a very poor captain.

But take a moment to think about the plight of this young skipper asked to lead a mercurial unit with most of their talented cricketers out there playing T20 cricket for leagues around the globe. Take a moment to reflect how well the West Indies have fared even with those stars aboard under other skippers in the past decade.

They have been woeful, the captains have been even more worse. 

Holder, on the other hand, might have a rather poor record as skipper at the moment but at least he has led from the front. At the very least, he has fronted up to their problems, admitted that there are issues and tried his best to find workarounds. For those who think he shouldn't be in the team at all, Holder has answered with performances on the field.

Statistics tell a whole different story about Holder. He cannot possibly match a Ben Stokes or a Shakib-al-Hasan when it comes to batting or bowling but his numbers are far better than what you would expect from someone clobbered for 104 runs in an ODI against a marauding AB de Villiers. 

Since 2016, Holder with 36 wickets in 27 ODI matches is the highest wicket-taker for West Indies but the next best, Ashley Nurse, has played 10 matches lesser than him. In Tests, he has 20 in 11 matches with a best of 6/65, putting him third among current Windies bowlers in the wicket charts. 

He has exceeded expectations in the batting department though, punching above his weight whenever their lacklustre top-order has failed to deliver. He has seven fewer runs than Darren Bravo in four innings more than the talented no.3 batsman. He even averages two more than the Lara-like batsman.

Stepping up when it matters

He has often waged a lonely battle with the bat in a depleted West Indies squad

More than sheer overall numbers, Holder has shown the capacity to fight it out when it matters. In most of West Indies' wins in the past two years, Holder has played a significant role. In the final Test against Pakistan at Sharjah in 2016, Holder wrecked Pakistan in the second innings with a 5/30 helping his side level the series. 

In the return series in the Caribbean, in Bridgetown, he was once again at the forefront of another West Indies victory. While Roston Chase stole the limelight with a spectacular 131 in the first innings, it was Holder who held up one end with a valiant 58 off 128 balls.

The partnership lifted them from 154/6 to a total of 312. He was brilliant with the ball as well, taking three wickets apiece in both innings while conceding at less than two an over.

What he lacks in ferocity and pace, Holder makes up for it in nagging lines and disconcerting bounce. Against a power-packed Indian batting line-up a year back, he was so tight that Cheteshwar Pujara scored just 1 run off 38 balls against him at one point. He was relentless with his fifth stump line and generated awkward bounce.

Even as India made 500, Holder commanded their respect conceding at just 2.09 in 34.2 overs. He then went on to play a match saving knock with Roston Chase in the final innings, remaining unbeaten on 64 off 99 balls. 

These weren't his best though as in 2015 against England in North Sound, he compiled a hundred from no.8 in the final innings to save a Test match. It wasn't a typical match saving knock as he looked positive, striking at a rate of 69.12 in the face of danger.

It wasn't anything special in the annals of World Cricket, but when the history of the West Indies cricket in the 21st century is written down in history books, this knock will hold a special place. There haven't been many from their primary batsmen.

Even when his team missed out on a Champions Trophy berth, lost to Afghanistan and was dubbed as incompetent against a strong Indian line-up in the recent ODIs, Holder remained hopeful. That hope led to a mesmerising five-wicket haul against India in the fourth ODI, a spell that helped Windies defend 190 against India.

A spell that was underlined by a specific plan to get rid of Virat Kohli with bouncers. He did get the Indian skipper for the second time in the series. 

Rallying his troops

The tall man can strike the ball a long way but also knows to play the patience game

Holder might himself admit that he isn't the best available to the West Indies. But with the depleted state their cricket is in, they need 10 men and a leader more than 11 players. This leader has shown them the way, guided them from the front and stepped up to hold together a broken team.

"I'm here to do a job and I'm trying to do the best I possibly can." 

He hasn't oozed the aura of a Steve Waugh or a Hansie Cronje but has led like himself, in a calm and composed fashion, rallying his listless men behind him. He may not be there yet, but all signs are that he is growing into the leader West Indies need him to be.