Jason Holder will continue as captain of the West Indies Test team for the upcoming tour of the United Arab Emirates but has been given a serious dressing down from chairman of selectors Courtney Browne.
Going into the WICB’s weekend meeting in Dominica, there was speculation that former coach of the team, Phil Simmons, and skipper of the Test team Jason Holder would have been removed. Simmons was fired and now information coming to hand is that Holder will retain his position as captain of the team.
The West Indies will play three Test matches against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates beginning on October 13. The first match will be historic for the West Indies, as it will be their first ever day/night Test.
Guardian Media understands that a note was passed to the board of directors on the weekend about Holder and it stated that the chairman had a frank talk with him concerning his form in the longer format of the game and whether he warrants selection outside of being captain.
The selection panel at this time is not yet convinced that he should be removed as leader of the Test team and it is clear that if he does not come to the park with bat and ball during the Pakistan series, he may well lose his job at the end of it.
President of the WICB Dave Cameron stated that the performance of the West Indies senior team in Tests and ODIs is a business risk for the board. Holder is at the helm of the team for both formats that have come under question.
Since taking over the captaincy from wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin last year, Holder has not enjoyed good results. He was named to the post in September last year and became the second youngest Test captain of all time for the West Indies and 15th youngest of all time for any Test nation.
He started off with a 2-0 ‘whitewash’ at the hands of Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. The West Indies then visited Australia towards the end of last year, where they lost 2-0 with one match drawn. In 2016, they have so far played one Test series and this was against India, losing the four-match series 2-0. In all, Holder has captained the team for nine matches, winning none, losing six, with three ending in draws.
In UAE he would have another three Test matches, hoping to turn around his fortunes.
