Holding: Stand by WI team

London - Michael Holding has an encouraging message for the doubters.

'Don't give up on the West Indies yet,' the champion fast bowler turned commentator wrote in his weekly newspaper column here yesterday.

After beating England by an innings in three days in the first Test, the West Indies have lost the second and all four completed matches in the NatWest Series of One-Day Internationals against England and Zimbabwe. But Holding remains confident.

'They have not fallen apart as they did in South Africa, for example,' he noted. 'Test cricket is a completely different game and when Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh come back they will give the side a huge lift,' he stated.

He also predicted big things for Brian Lara who was 'settling back in the rhythm of things'.

'He still looks overweight but I would back him to make two hundreds in the last three Tests,' was Holding's assessment.

He conceded that the recent reversals present 'the first real challenge' for new captain Jimmy Adams and The Management team.

'Winning becomes a habit and losing can be equally contagious,' Holding wrote. 'On our last three tours, we have not been able to turn things around when they started to go wrong.'

He put the defeats in the NatWest Series down to inexperience in One- Day cricket, an observation that he also applied to Adams' captaincy.

'In Sunday's game, he would have done better to bring his fielders in when Zimbabwe were 104 for four, still needing another 180 to win,' he said.

'The batsmen should have been forced to take risks, not allowed to glide along with easy singles.'

And he had a warning for England.

'I hope England read too much into the One-Dayers and get overconfident,' he stated.

'When they turn up at Old Trafford for the third Test, they could get a nasty surprise.'

Already eliminated from the NatWest final that will now be between England and Zimbabwe at Lord's on Sunday, the West Indies have one last match against England at Nottingham tomorrow to regain some confidence.

They revert to the longer game with two three-day matches against county opposition prior to the third Test at Old Trafford, Manchester, starting on August 3.

They play Yorkshire at Leeds starting on Monday and Leicestershire at Leicester starting Friday.

Walsh and Shivnarine Chanderpaul both sat out the NatWest Series to give injuries time to properly heal but both are expected to be back in action for at least one of the matches prior to the third Test.

Ambrose, who was given official leave of absence to return to Antigua during the One-Day series, is due back in England on Friday to rejoin the team and prepare for the resumption of the Test series.