JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Holder defends senior players

...says big­ger 'col­lec­tive ef­fort' need­ed

by

20151213

HO­BART–West In­dies cap­tain Ja­son Hold­er has de­fend­ed the at­ti­tude and con­tri­bu­tion of his se­nior play­ers, fol­low­ing the side's em­bar­rass­ing in­nings de­feat to Aus­tralia in the first Test in Aus­tralia yes­ter­day, and be­lieves a stronger col­lec­tive ef­fort is need­ed by the team in or­der to turn the se­ries around.

Aus­tralia me­dia has been crit­i­cal of the at­ti­tude of the West In­dies se­nior play­ers, in par­tic­u­lar, bats­man Mar­lon Samuels, who they ac­cused of ap­pear­ing in­dif­fer­ent in his ap­proach through­out the con­test at Bel­lerive Oval.How­ev­er, Hold­er said the play­er had been show­ing the right at­ti­tude off the pitch.

"I think there's a lot of in­for­ma­tion shared in the dress­ing room," Hold­er told a post-match me­dia con­fer­ence.

"Se­nior play­ers pret­ty much get in­volved with play­ers of the likes of Mar­lon Samuels – he has a lot of chats with most of the bats­men – and we have Jerome Tay­lor lead­ing our at­tack hav­ing a lot of dis­cus­sion with the fast bowlers so I've been sup­port­ed there, by the fast bowlers and the se­nior bats­men.

"It's just about putting a strong col­lec­tive ef­fort to­geth­er on the par­tic­u­lar day � which we strug­gled with in the past. We need to cor­rect it go­ing for­ward in this se­ries."

West In­dies were noth­ing short of mediocre with both bat and ball through­out the game, as they tum­bled to an in­nings and 212-run loss – their worst de­feat to Aus­tralia for 84 years.

The Caribbean side's bat­ting col­lapsed in both in­nings, bowled out for 223 in the first in­nings and 148 in the sec­ond, to con­cede de­feat about half-hour be­fore tea on the third day.

For Hold­er, it was his third straight Test loss since tak­ing over as cap­tain ahead of last month's two-Test se­ries in Sri Lan­ka, and he said he was fo­cussed on try­ing to break the los­ing trend which be­gan be­fore his tenure.

"No doubt re­sults haven't gone my way and it's been tough times but I can think back and for a num­ber of years West In­dies crick­et has been like this," he point­ed out.

"[I'm] not mak­ing ex­cus­es for any­body but at the end of the day it's a sit­u­a­tion most of us came and found our­selves in. It is for this cur­rent group to pick our­selves up and find a way to turn things around and the on­ly way we can turn it around is by per­for­mances.

"Bats­men need to take the onus up­on them­selves and make runs and with ball in hand, bowlers need to do sim­i­lar­ly by tak­ing wick­ets, that's the on­ly way we can move for­ward."

Left-han­der Dar­ren Bra­vo and open­er Kraigg Brath­waite were the on­ly pos­i­tives com­ing out of the lop­sided con­test. Bra­vo stroked 108 in the first in­nings – his sev­enth Test hun­dred – while Brath­waite struck an at­tack­ing 94 in the sec­ond in­nings in a des­per­ate at­tempt to sal­vage pride for the Windies.

As the Windies looked to re­group ahead of the Box­ing Day Test in Mel­bourne, Hold­er said it was im­por­tant the play­ers drew mo­ti­va­tion from those per­for­mances.

"I think we need to look at in­spired per­for­mances like the way Dar­ren Bra­vo played. He showed once he ap­plied him­self and spent time that runs could be made out there," the 24-year-old all-rounder not­ed.

"Again, how Kraigg Brath­waite played in the sec­ond in­nings, a re­al­ly fight­ing in­nings. He just changed gears at the end push­ing for a hun­dred but un­for­tu­nate­ly he didn't get it.

"I think we just need to look at those in­spir­ing per­for­mances, prob­a­bly look back at per­for­mances where we have done well in the past and just try to re-live those mo­ments in­to this Test se­ries."

CMC


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

A model in a costume from The Lost Tribe’s 2026 presentation Island Circus

KERWIN PIERRE

Ringmasters of the Road: Crowds flock to Tribe’s circus-themed band launch

21 hours ago
Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Students, principal and staff of St David’s RC Primary, along with the UWTT and Scotiabank Foundation teams at the handover of steelpans at the school.

Scotiabank Foundation, United Way donate steelpans

21 hours ago
The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

Yesterday
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

Yesterday