West Indies captain Jason Holder says his facet will keep targeted on the current regardless of the possibility to seal a primary Take a look at sequence win in England for 32 years. Final week the Caribbean facet marked worldwide cricket’s return from the coronavirus lockdown with a powerful four-wicket win over England within the first Take a look at at Southampton. Meaning they want only one extra victory within the two remaining matches, each at Outdated Trafford, to clinch the sequence. The second Take a look at begins on Thursday.
For many years, West Indies have struggled to dwell as much as the all-conquering facet of the 1980s that included Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards and top-class quick bowlers reminiscent of Malcolm Marshall and Curtly Ambrose.
The Caribbean facet haven’t gained an away sequence towards any of the seven sides at the moment ranked above them since 1994/95, once they beat New Zealand.
Within the 25 years since, the one groups they’ve overwhelmed exterior the Caribbean are Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
However towering all-rounder Holder, who took a Take a look at-best 6-42 at Southampton, advised reporters on Wednesday he had not targeted on the historical past.
“Successful the primary Take a look at match is only one piece of the puzzle,” he mentioned. “We have got two different video games to play and we do not get forward of ourselves.”
West Indies have fun
However Holder was effectively conscious of the importance of final week’s success to cricket followers again dwelling, a degree bolstered when he spoke to 3 prime ministers from the Caribbean as a visitor throughout a radio present on Tuesday.
“This COVID interval has actually put a dampener on issues for the world and issues like cricket, particularly within the Caribbean, can unify the Caribbean,” mentioned Holder.
“It’s actually good to see what number of hearts we have happy within the Caribbean up to now however to be able to take it a step additional all of them need us to win this sequence.”
Final week’s success was solely the second time that the West Indies had gained a Take a look at match in England for 20 years.
Their solely different Take a look at win on English soil in that interval got here three years in the past in a match during which Shai Hope grew to become the primary batsman to attain tons of in each innings of a match at Headingley.
However these stay the quantity three’s lone two centuries in 32 Exams, with Hope out twice out cheaply on the Ageas Bowl.
Holder, the world’s top-ranked Take a look at all-rounder and quantity two bowler, backed Hope to return good.
“Shai’s a top quality participant, we have seen that notably the final time we got here right here to England,” he mentioned.
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“I’ve acquired all confidence Shai Hope will ship. He simply must get himself in, get himself going and he will go huge for us.”
Holder mentioned he anticipated John Campbell to be out there after the opening batsman retired harm after being hit on the toe by a Jofra Archer yorker at Southampton earlier than returning to the crease for the conclusion of their profitable run-chase.
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