Jason Holder on trying to change West Indies cricket following his match-winning efforts with both bat and ball.
Jason Holder: ‘I have a burning desire to make a change, so I keep putting in my best effort’.
On a warm evening at Lauderhill, West Indies had nothing going for them going into this second Twenty20 International. Only two of their previous 19 T20Is had been victories, including the dismal 5-0 home loss to Australia. In the first Twenty20 International, they had made several catches. The three-match series was at stake, Andre Russell and Nicholas Pooran had just said their goodbyes, and Rovman Powell had joined Brandon King, Evin Lewis, and Shimron Hetmyer on the injury list.
In the face of increasing pressure in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup next year, West Indies were searching for something, a spark, or any particular genius to turn things around. Individual genius from one of the team’s elder members was the source of it.
Jason Holder, who is 33 years old and has endured 12 years of playing international cricket, became the West Indies’ highest wicket-taker in the format. He took an incredible 4 for 19, pouched two precise catches, and hit the game-winning runs when the team had lost all of its batting momentum and needed three to win off one.
What was Holder going to remember the most from this day? “Just getting over the line, to be honest,” he said on being named the Player of the Match. “As I said before, it’s been a tough couple of weeks for us. We just needed a win. We brought it down to the very end, unfortunately. But fortunately, we still got over the line.”
Prior to the camera turning to him with his arms raised and a cry of happiness, Holder’s shriek of celebration could be heard on the stump mic as the ball had just left the 30-yard circle. When Holder was batting alongside Romario Shepherd and they needed 36 from 18, he described their pursuing approach.
“I told Romario when we were batting, we needed at least four sixes with the scenario that was posed to us. We got three. We fell probably one short, but we still got over the line. That was our target. Just keeping wickets in hand, obviously, but still trying to hit our strong areas and find the boundary.
“We are powerful players and we know we can find the boundary. But credit to the Pakistani bowlers as well. I thought they bowled really well.”
“I love playing for West Indies, to be honest,” Holder said. “One of my things is to leave West Indies cricket better than they came and found it. I still think there’s a lot of work to be done. We haven’t done justice to our potential over the last couple of weeks, maybe the last couple of years. We’ve had a fair bit of criticism, which at times is warranted, but we know that winning can be a lot better. We’ve just got to put it together more often than not.
“I think [lack of] consistency has definitely plagued us, but we’ve seen that over the years that we can do it. For me, it’s just to have that burning desire to make a change, to make a difference. So I keep putting in my best effort when I get a chance with the West Indies.”