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Holder wants fearless Windies to confront Aussies
BRISBANE, Australia (CMC) — Captain Jason Holder has urged his inexperienced West Indies side to be fearless and aggressive but not reckless, as they attempt to break a near two-decade long streak of not having
Jason Holder
won a Test Down Under.
The 24-year-old Holder, in only his second series as Test captain, said yesterday though Australia were ranked number two in the world and West Indies six places lower, it was important for the Caribbean side to be confident and aggressive in their approach and not to be intimidated by their opponents.
“I had a week home (following the recent Sri Lanka tour) and I actually had time to see a series when Australia came to the Caribbean and Steve Waugh stood up to the West Indies fast bowlers and had a good rivalry with Curtly Ambrose,” Holder told reporters here.
“I took a lot from that experience just watching it… Australia are probably at the top at the present time so if we can just be a little more fearless and show we are not frightened for them. In that sense, be a little more aggressive and be smart… not reckless, but at the end of the day be smart and back our abilities.”
He added: “It is one of the biggest challenges (of my career). Obviously they are a very good side playing at home so it’s just important again that we learn as quickly as possible and not be intimidated by their bowlers and be confident. Once we make improvements I’m happy at the end of the series.”
West Indies arrived here last week to begin preparation for the three-Test rubber set to bowl off on December 10 in Hobart.
Significantly, the Caribbean side have not won a Test in Australia since a Courtney Walsh-led unit trounced Mark Taylor’s world-beaters by 10 wickets back in 1997.
Since then, they have lost 10 of the 11 Tests played there, a dismal record which has coincided with their slide precariously close to the bottom of the ICC Test rankings.
West Indies are also coming off heavy defeats in the recent two-Test series away to Sri Lanka and Holder said the side needed to focus heavily on making improvements and constantly learning.
“We’re pretty confident coming into the series. We obviously got here pretty early to try to get acclimatised to the conditions,” he explained.
“We obviously have a young side and didn’t have the best time in Sri Lanka which was our last tour but we’re hoping to make improvements as we go forward. As I said, it’s a young side so it’s important the guys learn as quickly as possible as they get into international cricket.
“It is important that we just try to build confidence and look to improve. It is important that we don’t keep having two steps forward and four steps back (but we need to be) having that steady progression and it’s pretty important we keep learning.”
He added: “Definitely [the series is about] restoring a bit of pride. As I said, we didn’t have the best time in Sri Lanka but it’s a new day, we have new conditions and a new place so it’s just important that we go into it with an open mind and be very confident — not be reckless — and be smart.”
Despite their poor run of recent form, Holder said West Indies were anything but deflated ahead of the series.
“We don’t come with just some belief, we come with a lot of belief. If you don’t believe, there’s no point being here,” he stressed.
“We have to play aggressive cricket, we have to play smart cricket. Obviously Australia are the number two-ranked side in the world and they will be coming at us pretty hard as we saw in the Caribbean so it is just important as I said before that we just be confident, back our abilities and play some smart cricket.”
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