The CPL announced on Monday the seismic developments on Monday as it released the franchise pre-draft retentions and new signings for the coming season.
There were two pre-draft windows for the 2022 season. In the first window, each team could retain up to five Caribbean players with a maximum of two from the top five salary spots.
In the second window, teams were then given an opportunity to sign two more local players. These could be new signings from those who were not retained by other teams or players who appeared for that team in the previous season.
The Trinidad-based franchise has also retained captain Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Akeal Hosein, Jayden Seales and Tion Webster.
Meanwhile, defending champions St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, have brought in mercurial opening batsman Andre Fletcher and Darren Bravo to bolster their batting while retaining 2021 captain Dwayne Bravo, Evin Lewis, Sheldon Cottrell, Sherfane Rutherford and the hero of last season’s final Dominic Drakes.
The St Lucia Kings have acquired the services of explosive batsman Johnson Charles and Mark Deyal while retaining 2021 Player of the Tournament Roston Chase, Kesrick Williams, Alzarri Joseph, and Jeavor Royal.
Over in Barbados, the Royals have picked up the talented Obed McCoy and re-energized Devon Thomas and have retained their captain Jason Holder, Kyle Mayers, Hayden Walsh, Oshane Thomas and Nyeem Young.
Two-time champions, Jamaica Tallawahs have signed the exciting all-rounder Fabian Allen and opener Brandon King while retaining Rovman Powell, Kennar Lewis and Shamarh Brooks.
The Guyana Amazon Warriors added Keemo Paul and Gudakesh Motie while keeping Shimron Hetmyer, Odean Smith, Romario Shepherd, and Chandrapaul Hemraj.
The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) finals will be hosted by Guyana for the next three years, starting in 2022. This is the first time the Hero CPL final will be held in Guyana and this long-term staging agreement will see the culmination of the tournament also taking place in Guyana in 2023 and 2024.
This season, Guyana will host seven group games, three knockout matches and the Hero CPL final which will take place on Friday, September 30 at The Guyana National Stadium in Providence.
Barbados Royals, captained by Rovman Powell, won the toss and opted to field first, and it seemed a good decision, as they initially had Trinbago Knight Riders at 69-2 inside 10 overs, before a fantastic 108-run third wicket stand between Martin Guptill and captain Kieron Pollard fired the Knight Riders to their daunting total of 194-5.
Guptill, whose last half-century in the CPL was back in 2018 against the Tallawahs, came good on the night with a 58-ball unbeaten century, while Pollard contributed 46 off 32 balls. Jason Holder was the pick of the Royals bowling with 2-39 from his four overs.
The Royals's reply was derailed by Andre Russell, who grabbed three quick wickets in the powerplay -Rahkeem Cornwall (zero), Kyle Mayers (zero) and Alick Athanaze (two) -while Sunil Narine accounted for Laurie Evans (five) and the host were unable to recover from the early demolition. They were eventually bowled out for 61 in 12.1 overs, succumbing to the largest defeat in CPL history.
Afghan left-arm wrist spinner Waqar Salamkheil introduced himself to the tournament in grand fashion, picking up four for 14 in 3.1 overs. Russell had three for 13 from two overs and Akeil Hosein, two for 16 from four.
Earlier, Trinbago Knight Riders had a cautious start to their innings, with Guptill progressing steadily at one point on 20 runs from 20 balls. They lost the wickets of Mark Deyal (27) and Nicholas Pooran (six), but the complexion of the innings changed once Pollard joined Guptill in the middle.
The two swung the momentum of the game, with Guptill, opening up and paraded his six hitting skills, as he hammered nine maximums and a solitary four on his way to an even 100 which came up in the final over. It was the first century of the 2023 edition and it was firmly backed by Pollard's well-paced knock, which included four sixes and a solitary four.
Despite losing Pollard, Russell (five) and Dwayne Bravo (zero) at the backend, the damage was already done, and it was left for the Knight Riders bowlers to mop up what was left of the Royals hopes on the night.
Barbados Royals will be back in action tomorrow night against reigning champions Jamaica Tallawahs at the same venue.
Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 194-5 (20 overs); Barbados Royals 61 all out (12.1 overs)
When bad light stopped play on Saturday with just over 17 overs left in the day's play, Holder was unbeaten on 60 and debutant Joshua Da Silva on 25 as the West Indies closed the day on 244 for 6, still trailing New Zealand by 85 runs with only four tail-end wickets in hand.
Earlier, John Campbell made his highest Test score of 68 as the West Indies showed improvement on their embarrassing first innings display.
Resuming on their overnight score of 124 for 8 in reply to New Zealand’s 460, the West Indies added only seven runs to be all out for 131.
Tim Southee had DaSilva caught behind on his overnight score of 3 and bowled Shannon Gabriel for 2 to finish with 5 for 32. Chemar Holder remained unbeaten on 8. Kyle Jamieson, who did most of the damage on Friday, took 5 for 34.
Following on, the West Indies had a much better -looking start getting to 37 when Trent Boult took two wickets in an over to reduce the visitors to 41 for 2. Kraigg Braithwaite had got to 24 when he flicked the New Zealand quick off his legs only to be caught low down at leg gully by a diving Will Young.
Three balls later, Darren Bravo, on four, fended off a short delivery to point where Henry Nicholls took a dolly.
But just as it seemed as if the West Indies were in for another swift capitulation, Campbell and Shamarh Brooks mounted an 89-run stand that took the West Indies to 130 when a length ball from Neil Wagner slanted across Brooks, who went forward to defend only to see the ball take the edge and carry through to wicketkeeper BJ Watling. He made 36.
Roston Chase came and faced seven balls before edging Jamieson to Tom Latham at slip without scoring. Jamieson then bowled bowled Campbell off the inside edge for 68 as the West Indies slipped from 130 for 2 to 134 for 5.
Jermaine Blackwood, whose 69 made up more half the West Indies first innings score, threatened once again to take the attack to the New Zealand bowlers but after racing to 20, he was bowled by Boult trying to slog a ball that swung and smashed into his stumps. The score was then 170 for 6 and the West Indies were sliding towards defeat inside three days when Holder had his best showing of the series.
He and Da Silva have so far added 74 for the seventh wicket and will resume on Sunday hoping to add many much-needed runs to their face-saving stand and perhaps pray for rain.
Boult has so far taken 3 for 75 while Jamieson has 2 for 43 and Wagner 1 for 53.
Defending 121, the Strikers' left-arm spinner picked up a hat-trick in the first over of the innings, dismissing Andries Gous, Dewald Brevis and Ibrahim Zadran, to leave Samp Army reeling at 1 for 3.
In his second over, he removed the opposition captain Faf du Plessis and Najibullah Zadran in space of three balls to further rattle Samp Army.
Jason Holder's 22 of 11 and Qais Ahmad's unbeaten 31 off 13 at No.10 meant Samp Army huffed and puffed to 80 for 9.
Earlier, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz's blazing 56 off 28 set the tone for Strikers to post a competitive 121 for 5. His knock included four fours and five sixes.
In the end, Asif Ali smashed three fours in his unbeaten seven-ball knock of 17 to further lift Strikers.
Samp Army will have a second chance to make the final when they play the winner of the Eliminator between Bangla Tigers and Deccan Gladiators in Qualifier 2 later today.
At the time of publishing, the Tigers were 78-4 off seven overs batting first.
On the back of an impressive effort in marshaling the squad to defeat Bangladesh, in a two-Test series last week, calls have arisen for Kraigg Brathwaite to lead the team, ahead of regular captain Holder, for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka.
Holder missed out on the team’s tour of Bangladesh after being one of 12 players to pull out of the campaign due to health and safety concerns. In addition, however, the captain, who had led the team to previous tours of England and New Zealand, also admitted to experiencing a high level of fatigue, particularly having gone through several weeks of quarantine.
For Bradshaw, provided he is in a good mental state, Holder should resume his duties leading the squad.
“I would support the retention of Jason if it is that we understand his state of mind at this time,” Bradshaw told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“Jason has been earmarked as our long-term captain. Let’s recall that he’s had some success and we were very excited when we won the Wisden Trophy. He has had some success and he has been molding the team,” he added.
“He has led by example and I would want to sit down with him and understand the challenges he was going through. Because if he is still challenged it may need a situation where he is given that space to ensure that his individual performance does not suffer.”
Holder was appointed captain of the team in 2015.
Holder crafted a crucial second-innings knock of 58 and took 4 wickets as the team held on for a nail-biting one-wicket win to take the lead.
However, the top allrounder has also gained plenty of attention for his actions off the field, particularly for the mentorship shown to young fast-bowler Jayden Seales. Seales was one of the highlights of the first match for the Windies after claiming an impressive five-wicket second innings haul.
“Obviously, Jason is the number one all-rounder in the world. He is very crucial, and he has done a fantastic job, obviously with Jayden. I see them having a lot of chats,” Brathwaite told members of the media via an online press conference on Thursday.
“All the guys are doing a good job, they all came together but obviously Jason is the number one all-rounder in the world so obviously he brings a lot of value.”
Brathwaite replaced Holder as captain of the team in February, following a successful tour of Bangladesh, the team has since drawn with Sri Lanka and lost to South Africa.
The 28-year-old had shown great promise alongside Shai Hope at the top of the order, scoring 134 and 95 when the West Indies successfully chased down 322 for a memorable win at Headingley in 2017.
Brathwaite then suffered a dip in form, averaging 25.33 in his last 20 Tests ahead of the England series this year. His struggles included poor showings against India and Afghanistan. The player did show a flicker of returning to form during the team’s last Test tour against England where he scored two half-centuries. Brathwaite reached 65 in the first and got 75 in the second but, however, also had other innings scores of 4, 12, 1, and 19 to average 21.
The opener though, looked good in the team’s warm-up matches against New Zealand A, where he scored 246 in the second warm-up match. The performance has encouraged the West Indies captain.
“It’s good to see our opening batsmen, including Kraigg, getting some scores. I thought he shaped up really well in England, he good a few half-centuries, got a few starts and he’s starting to look like the Kraigg Brathwaite of old,” Holder told CWI media.
“He’s obviously been a banker for us over the years, he’s had a lean patch over the last couple of years but to see him coming back into stride the way he has. I was remarking to one of the coaches that the innings I saw in Queenstown, the double hundred, was one of the most fluent innings I have seen from him. It reminded me of a Test match innings he played in Hobart where he got 97 in the second innings that was one of the most fluent innings I’ve ever seen from Kraigg but this one was similar,” he added.
“For me, his balance looks really good and he is striking the ball really well. So, let’s hope he can continue in that vein and get us off to some really good starts.”
Despite being better known for his exploits in the red-ball format, Holder’s exclusion from the first-team squad and selection as a reserve for the tournament caused shock and dismay across the Caribbean, following the announcement of the final squad next week.
In international T20 cricket to date, Holder has managed 27 matches with an average of 16.75 in 18 innings, added to that he has claimed 22 wickets. In the Indian Premier League last season, however, he put on several strong performances during his time with Sunrisers Hyderabad and also had a strong showing against Sri Lanka in the series of practice games. He did, however, struggled against Pakistan and has also failed to make a telling impact in the CPL. For Roberts, however, the player's proven quality should have been enough to see him added to the starting team.
“I was shocked because he is the best cricketer we have in the region, bar none,” Roberts told the Mason and Guest radio show.
“I’d pick him as one of the first choices for the World Cup, what is he doing in the reserves. It embarrassing for us to see how we could treat our best cricketer. Jason Holder is our best cricketer," he added.
Holder has been consistently ranked as the top, or second-best Test cricket all-rounder for the last couple of years but has not displayed that kind of dominance over the shorter formats.
It was the first time since 2012, that West Indies batsmen have been able to achieve that feat and only the second time since 1995.
Brathwaite, who started off the series with scores of three and 23 in the first Test, finished strong with his ninth Test century, 126, and a second innings score of 85 that spiralled his average in the series to an excellent 59.25.
Kyle Mayers, perhaps the most consistent of the West Indies batsmen had scores of 49, 55, 45 and 52 for an overall average of 50.25.
Incidentally, these were the two lowest averages of the five batsmen. Nkrumah Bonner, who scored his first Test century in the series, 113 not out, averaged 72 while Jason Holder averaged 69 after scoring 71 not out, 30, 19 and 18 not out.
Rahkeem Cornwall had only two turns at-bat and he made them count. His 61 and 73 gave him an average of 67, to round out an impressive all-round performance from the West Indies despite the fact that they were unable to force a win in any of the two Tests.
Simmons, though, was pleased with what he observed.
“Everybody is looking to occupy the crease. People are working to bat for long periods and our depth goes deeper because Alzarri Joseph and Rahkeem Cornwall have shown within the last three series that they can bat and they can provide that 50-100-run partnerships that later down can take us to 350 to 400s,” said the West Indies head coach.
He was particularly pleased with Cornwall’s performance with the bat. Already, a crucial member of the bowling attack, Cornwall enhanced his reputation as a genuine allrounder.
“It was great to see Rahkeem’s batting coming to the fore, and in all, the batting has shown up in the last four Test matches and this is a great thing because, before that, the bowling was carrying us,” Simmons said.
The last time the West Indies had five batsmen averaging over 50 in a Test series was back in 2012, when Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Kieran Powell and Denesh Ramdin all surpassed the milestone. Chanderpaul averaged over 300 for the series.
Before that, six West Indies batsmen - Chanderpaul, Junior Murray, Winston Benjamin, Jimmy Adams, Brian Lara and Sherwin Campbell - all averaged over 50 runs an innings against New Zealand in 1995.
Chasing 186 for victory, West Indies slumped to yet another seemingly inevitable defeat characterized by poor shot-making and reckless play.
The West Indies slumped to 49-4 in the seventh over with Kyle Mayers (1), Nicholas Pooran (15), Devon Thomas (1) and Shimron Hetmyer (2) all back in the hutch.
Jason Holder and Rovman Powell tried to accelerate but were out for 25 and 18, respectively as the West Indies slumped to 114-7, needing 72 from the final 32 balls.
Holder’s dismissal brought together Shepherd and Smith whose partnership brought the West Indies within 13 runs of an unlikely victory.
Shepherd hit three sixes and a four in his 16-ball 31 while Smith made 27 from just 14 balls with four fours and a six, but the task proved too great as the West Indies innings closed at 172-7.
Mitchell Santer was the best of the New Zealand bowlers with 3-19 from his four overs.
After the visitors were invited to take the first strike, Martin Guptill and Devon Conway shared in an opening stand of 62 at almost eight runs an over.
It took a spectacular piece of fielding from Shimron Hetmyer to break the partnership in the eighth over when Guptill cut Odean Smith up and over deep point only to see the Guyanese snatch the ball out of the air just as it was about to clear the boundary.
Smith removed Conway next ball caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Devon Thomas for a 29-ball 43 that included four fours and two sixes.
Glen Phillips went for 17 caught at short fine leg off Holder and Daryl Mitchell was dismissed by Obed McCoy as the West Indies tried to fight back having New Zealand at 144-4 in the 17th over.
At the other end, Kane Williamson bludgeoned the bowling making 47 from just 33 balls before he became Smith’s third victim with New Zealand 149-5 in the 18th. The next 15 balls would prove costly, especially the last six bowled by Jason Holder, who was plundered for 23 runs that pushed New Zealand to 185-5. James Neesham's 33 from 15 balls with three fours and two sixes at the death, was instrumental in getting New Zealand to their winning total.
Smith ended with 3-32.
Hetmyer was retained by the Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2021 auction, despite a lukewarm season in which he scored 185 runs in 11 innings at an average of 23.12 and a strike rate of 148.
However, his compatriots Keemo Pail and Sherfane Rutherford were not as fortunate as they were both released having failed to force their way into the starting line ups for the Capitals and the Mumbai Indians, respectively.
Not surprisingly, Kieron Pollard has been retained by the 2020 champions Mumbai Indians. Pollard was an influential figure in the Indians set up and captained the team in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury at the back end of the season.
Pollard’s compatriot, Dwayne Bravo, who suffered a season-ending injury in 2020, was retained by the Chennai Super Kings. Bravo won the Purple Cap in the 2013 and 2015 seasons. In 2013, he took 32 wickets during the IPL, the most ever for in an IPL, and he continues to be a game-changer for the Super Kings.
Meanwhile, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine were both retained by the Kolkata Knight Riders even after less than stellar seasons. Christopher Gayle and Nicholas Pooran were deservedly retained by the Kings XI Punjab.
Jason Holder, who was signed by the Sunrisers Hyderabad, after Mitchell Marsh suffered an injury early in the season, was retained by the franchise.
It was not all good news for Sheldon Cottrell who was released by Kings XI Punjab after a disappointing season. He was signed for more than USD$1 million. Fabian Allen and Oshane Thomas were released by the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, respectively.
Replying to England’s 416 all out on day one, the West Indians reached 351-5 off 84 overs at stumps on day two, trailing their English counterparts by just 65 runs.
Openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis got proceedings off to a good start for the West Indies with a 53-run opening partnership despite a testing spell of bowling from Mark Wood which saw him record a delivery at 97.1 miles per hour.
That partnership ended in the 15th over when Louis went caught off the bowling of off-spinner Shoaib Bashir for 21.
The skipper and new batsman Kirk McKenzie put on a further 25 before Brathwaite was next to go in the 22nd over, caught at short leg by Ollie Pope off the bowling of first Test hero Gus Atkinson for a well-played 48, his highest score since a 75 in July 2023 against India in Port-of-Spain.
Then, on the stroke of lunch, McKenzie played an ill-advised shot off the bowling of Bashir to fall for 11 and leave the tourists 84-3 in the 25th over.
The post-lunch session then saw the Dominican pair of Hodge and Athanaze brilliantly navigating some probing bowling from the hosts.
Hodge did have one reprieve when he was dropped by Joe Root off the bowling of Wood in the 42ndover.
The pair carried on to put on 175 for the fourth wicket before Athanaze unfortunately fell 18 runs shy of a well-deserved maiden Test hundred off the bowling of England captain Ben Stokes in the 62nd over.
Hodge went on to bring up an excellent maiden Test ton of his own with a brilliant straight drive for four off Wood.
His hundred came off 143 balls and included 17 fours. He was eventually dismissed by Chris Woakes in the 75th over for 120 off 171 balls.
"It was important we put our heads down and took some info from the England first innings," Hodge told Sky Sports at the end of the day.
"We made use of a good batting track. It feels amazing [to make a century], it is always good to contribute to the team, especially coming off the first Test when we didn't do so well as a batting unit.
On the partnership with Athanaze, he added: "Facing [Mark] Wood, it is not every day you face a guy who bowls every single ball over 90 miles per hour. It was really important we got through that period as it would have been really difficult for a new batter to start against that."
The not out batsmen at the crease at stumps were Joshua Da Silva on 32* and Jason Holder on 23*. The pair have, so far, put on 46 for the sixth wicket.
Shoaib Bashir was England’s most successful bowler on the day with 2-100 from 23 overs.
Full Scores:
England 416 all out off 88.3 overs (Ollie Pope 121, Ben Duckett 71, Ben Stokes 69, Alzarri Joseph 3-98, Kavem Hodge 2-44, Kevin Sinclair 2-73, Jayden Seales 2-90)
West Indies 351-5 off 84 overs(Kavem Hodge 120, Alick Athanaze 82, Kraigg Brathwaite 48, Shoaib Bashir 2-100)
Holder last played for the Windies in the shortest format of the game in India last year. Recently, however, since the resumption of cricket following an enforced break due to the coronavirus pandemic, he has put in a few notable T20 performances. In the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Holder was the Barbados Tridents' third-highest scorer with 192 runs in 10 matches and had a high score of 69. He also made an impact with the ball after claiming 10 wickets, the second-most on the team.
Despite not being initially drafted to the Indian Premier League (IPL), Holder was called up to replace Mitchell Marsh by Sunrisers Hyderabad where he has made a big impact. The player has, however, not been included in the T20 squad to face New Zealand later this month.
Simmons, however, pointed to scheduling being more of a factor than anything else for the Holder's omission.
“This is an odd tour. The T20 series here finishes a day, two days before the Test match. Being captain of the Test team, the decision was taken by us as a selection panel that Jason would not be considered for that part of the tour,” Simmons told members of the media via a Zoom interview on Friday.
"Seeing that he is coming from IPL now, he will have one chance to play in the four-day game before the Test match, so that decision was taken by the panel,” he added.
"Jason is always in consideration for the T20s. He has had two good years at CPL and now he has had a good tournament at IPL.”
Veteran all-rounder Holder and pace bowler Seales missed the Windies' last red-ball outing against Australia in January.
Holder opted to play for Dubai Capitals in the International League T20 but his form in the longest format of cricket with Barbados and Worcestershire has brought a recall.
Seales was unavailable for the tour of Australia with a shoulder injury but has impressed in England this season for Sussex as the joint-highest wicket-taker in Division Two of the County Championship.
The touring West Indians will also have Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph and Kemar Roach as seam-bowling options to choose from.
At the top of the order, opening batter Tagenarine Chanderpaul has been dropped after just 31 runs across four innings against Australia.
Mikyle Louis has replaced Chanderpaul and could become the first man from St Kitts to play Test cricket for West Indies, if selected for the first Test at Lord's, starting on July 10.
"The squad has been shaped with both experience and emerging talent, ensuring a strong balance as we face the challenge of playing in English conditions," Desmond Haynes, West Indies' lead selector, said.
"Over the past year, our red-ball program has continued to develop. Following our victory in the last Test in Australia in January, it is evident that we are seeing the fruits of that investment.
"Each player selected has earned their place through consistent performances and hard work. We are confident that this blend of seasoned players and emerging faces will perform admirably against England."
West Indies 15-man Test squad for England tour:
Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva (wicket-keeper), Jason Holder, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph (vice-captain), Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Zachary McCaskie, Kirk McKenzie, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair.
Holder gave another demonstration of why he is one of the best all-rounders in the world, starring with bat and ball in the Eliminator at Zayed Cricket Stadium.
The ice-cool West Indies captain took 3-25 as RCB were restricted to 131-7, AB de Villiers top-scoring with 56 and Aaron Finch making 32 after skipper Virat Kohli failed.
RCB, who have never won the tournament, had hope when Sunrisers were reduced to 67-4 in the 12th over of a do-or-die showdown in Abu Dhabi on Friday, Mohammed Siraj (2-28) striking twice.
The vastly experienced Williamson (50 not out from 44 balls) and Holder (24no off 20) got David Warner's side home, though, combining for a fifth-wicket stand of 65.
Sunrisers needed nine to win off the final over from Navdeep Saini and after Williamson, who was dropped on 37, took a single, Holder struck back-to-back boundaries to seal victory with two deliveries to spare.
Sunrisers, the 2016 champions, had to win three games in a row to reach the play-offs.
If they beat Delhi Capitals on Sunday, they will face Mumbai Indians in the final.
KOHLI PROMOTION BACKFIRES
Kohli promoted himself to open, a day after his 32nd birthday, but the India skipper was unable to come to the party, edging Holder behind for only six.
RCB were 15-2 when the excellent Holder got rid of Devdutt Padikkal, and although the experienced pair of Finch and De Villiers steadied the ship, boundaries were proving hard to come by.
De Villiers brought up his 38th IPL half-century from 39 balls, while Finch struck Rashid Khan - who was wicketless but ran out Moeen Ali with a brilliant direct hit - for the only six of the innings as the Sunrisers bowlers kept the squeeze on.
WINDIES SKIPPER HOLDS HIS NERVE, WILLIAMSON MR DEPENDABLE
With Warner gone for a run-a-ball 17 and Manish Pandey dismissed for a brisk 24 by the superb Adam Zampa (1-12), the win-or-bust showdown was in the balance.
Priyam Garg followed cheaply, but Williamson and Holder were unflappable as they kept calm heads to pace the run chase just about perfectly in tough scoring conditions.
Williamson slog-swept Yuzvendra Chahal for six and although he could have been taken by Padikkal at deep square leg, that was only a minor blip for the New Zealand captain.
Both Williamson and Holder were out of the Sunrisers side early in the tournament, but both were still in the middle to send Kohli's RCB packing in a tense final over.
Hope has struggled in Test matches averaging 26.71 in 32 Tests. In the first Test at the Ageas Stadium in Southampton last week, Hope had scores of 16 and 9, raising concerns about whether he might eventually be dropped from the team. However, at the pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Holder when asked if Hope runs the risk of being dropped because of poor form, jumped to the defence of his number-three batsman.
“Going into a Test series you want to give a player as much confidence as you possibly can. I don’t look at whether you want to drop and select somebody else. You’ve got a core group of guys which you give added confidence and boost to in order for them to go and perform,” Holder said.
“The great thing about this site is that we have been together now for a while. The nucleus of this squad has been the same and all I want to do is keep encouraging our guys. Shai is a quality player; we’ve seen that particularly the last time he came here in England, and his one-day form has been really good, so I have all confidence Shai will deliver. He just needs to get himself in, get himself going and he is going to go big for us.”
In 2017, Hope scored centuries in both innings (147 and 118*) at Headingly as the West Indies defeated England by five wickets.
Holder said his side does not feel pressure going into Thursday’s match because his players are focussed on the task at hand.
“There is no pressure for us, we don’t get caught up in the off-the-field noise and everyone talking,” he said.
“We are just here to play cricket and each individual has a role within the team and it’s more or less us having to focus on our individual roles to bring together a strong collective effort.”
The 2019 champions have moved to retain big names like Holder, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope and Raymon Reifer.
Spinner Hayden Walsh Jr., Ashley Nurse and Johnathan Carter have also been retained for the new season. Emerging player Nyeem Young and Justin Greaves were also retained.
International retentions and signings will be announced at a later date. This year, teams can retain as many players from their 2019 squads as they wish. They could also transfer players to other teams and sign emerging players.
“We are really excited to build on last year's championship win and it is great that we have been able to retain the core of our squad for this season,” Holder said.
“Combined with the international players that we are planning to add to the squad we are looking forward to defending our championship.”
The CPL is scheduled to take place between August 19 and September 26.
However, the tournament organisers are currently watching the current situation with COVID-19 closely and are liaising with medical advisors and governments.
The CPL said a decision on whether the tournament can proceed as planned, or at a different time, will be made as soon as possible.
The skipper believes his team, having experienced English conditions in a heavy defeat in 2017, have the experience to make restitution for that earlier performance.
The West Indies are scheduled to to play three Tests in England beginning June 1 but there isn’t a lot of hope that it won’t, at the very least, be postponed because of the government’s directives to combat the spread of COVID-19 in that country.
The England Cricket Board and Cricket West Indies have had preliminary discussions and should be meeting again on Sunday to decide a way forward, with the possibility of playing to empty stands, postponements or both still on the cards.
Before the series, the West Indies were to have played three warm-up matches with a camp at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire, but that is also not expected to happen, at least not in the same way or maybe even at the same time.
Holder though, is hopeful that the series will go on.
While the series in England was destructive to the West Indian confidence, last year in the Caribbean, the West Indies had bested England 2-1 in a series that showed they could, not just compete, but hurt the generations-long rivals.
"This series will be tougher than the one in the Caribbean because we are obviously going in their backyard. England are a very, very good team in their backyard. Even although we beat them in the last series I'll still say England will start as favourites," said Holder.
According to Holder though, the West Indies aren’t the inexperienced bunch England would have played three years ago when they lost 2-1.
"You've got guys like Kraigg Brathwaite who has played county cricket as well and international cricket there. Shai [Hope] has played enough international cricket and did really well as well. So we have some guys going back there with a vengeance.
"If you speak to a lot of guys who were on that tour in 2017 everybody will say they can't wait to go back and probably just make amends for what would've happened in 2017. We believed personally in our abilities, it is just a matter of understanding the conditions and now that we've had that experience, I should only hope that we should be able to then put into practice and make a better show than we did last time," said Holder.
Holder, who hit an unbeaten 54 from 88 deliveries, watched on as the Proteas built a commanding advantage and were left 223-5 in their second innings.
Opener Aiden Markram (51) and Kyle Verreynne (50) starred for South Africa, with no repeat of the opening day carnage that saw 17 wickets fall for either side.
The Proteas were bowled out for 160 in their first innings, with Holder's half-century steadying the ship after the Windies had wobbled to just 97-7 in the 28th over.
With a 16-run advantage heading into the second innings, Markram and Tony de Zorzi put together a 79-run opening partnership before the latter was caught for 39.
The dismissal of Markram saw the visitors lose three wickets for 19 runs, but Verreynne and Wiaan Mulder (34 not out) were able to put together an 84-run sixth-wicket stand.
South Africa will resume with Verreynne and Mulder on day three, but Holder remains positive that his side can produce a comeback.
“I was just trying to eke out as many runs as we could,” said Holder at the end of the day. “First session tomorrow is obviously crucial for us.
"The most important thing is not to let the runs get too far away, let them sweat a little bit more for their runs, and I believe, with the amount of time left in the game, that we can chase anything they give us.”
The all-rounder was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for the new campaign, after only coming in as a substitute for Australian Mitchell Marsh last season.
Holder went on to score 66 runs, in seven matches, at an average of 33, and claimed 14 wickets, the third most on the team despite playing less than half the games. Lara, who is part of a commentary panel for this season’s tournament, has tipped the player to carry on in the same vein.
“Jason Holder could do pretty well. He ended up replacing Mitchell Marsh in the 2020 IPL, so I expect him to maybe come up with trumps this year,” Lara told StarSports.
“The tracks are not so favourable to the pace where he is playing at present, but he is such a good all-round player that I hope he can maintain his play and really show that the West Indians are here to stay,” he added.
Holder could, however, have plenty of competition for the top West Indian player with the likes of Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, and Nicholas Pooran also taking part in this season’s competition.
