Holding: Stand by WI team
London - Michael Holding has an encouraging message for the doubters
Tony Cozier
19-Jul-2000
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.