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Jason Holder does not want to shy away from responsibility

by Manuj Sharma Friday 25 August 2017

Jason Holder has an uphill task as West Indies head to Headingley

©REUTERS

West Indies captain Jason Holder insisted that he is not considering to step down from captaincy as they face England in the series-deciding second Test at Edgbaston on Friday.

The 25-year-old had a tough task during the pink-ball Test at Edgbaston when his team was handed a massive innings defeat after they managed scores of just 168 and 137 in the two innings.

Jermaine Blackwood remained the only positive for West Indies as he scored a fluent unbeaten 79 in the first innings but the men from Caribbean succumbed to the pressure created by England's first innings total of 514 that was set up by a double century from Alastair Cook and a ton from Joe Root.

Many former West Indian greats slammed the performance of the visitors as they their down-slide in the longer format continues but Holder believes this is not the time to step away from the challenges.

"It's not easy," Holder admitted. "We haven't had the best results over the last few years but I enjoy it.

"I don't shy away from it and I don't think I'd ever give it up. There might be a situation where people want to move on from me but I can't control that.

"The one thing I can control is trying to get the best out of each and every individual in the dressing room and I try my best to do that.

"One thing I've said to myself is that when I leave here just leave some kind of mark on it.

"So far the guys have been quite receptive and helped me out tremendously. It is a young group, we're trying to learn as fast as we possibly can under the circumstances we're faced with."

Highlighting the problems the teams faced in the first Test, Holder said he is expecting a better performance from his side in the second game with series on the line.

“As a bowling unit I don’t think we were as patient as we would like to be, we lacked consistency and it was difficult to set fields as the England players scored both sides of the wicket,” he said.

"As a batting unit we’ve got to know where our off stump is and be a lot more selective in our stroke play.

"Few of us went after the ball rather than waiting for it to come to us."

West Indies have been working with sports psychologist Steve Sylvester but Holder admitted that it is a 'work in progress' and will get better with time.

"More of a understanding, evolve and execute. We had a solid few weeks with Steve Sylvester. He has been working but it has been work in progress. Hopefully having him for a long time can help us think better."