West Indian skipper Jason Holder has unearth a new ground to become the first Caribbean all-rounder in 45 years to top the Test all-rounder rankings chart. Sir Garfield Sobers was the last Windies all-rounder with the pride to be called top-ranked Test all-rounder.
Holder’s heroics during Barbados Test helped him gain this feat, where he scored an unbeaten double century in 229 balls. Apart from that, he snared two important wickets of Keaton Jennings and Joe Root in the first innings.
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In the process, West Indian skipper jumped over Shakib Al Hasan and Ravindra Jadeja to become top-ranked. This performance was enough to give Windies a 381-run win over England in the first Test match.
Talking about his performance, Holder said “A really good match for me personally. The Test series against Bangladesh was very tough, we have worked very hard in the last two months and good to see the result. I had a moment there to express myself a bit.”
ICC quoted him saying “To score a double hundred in front of your home crowd is a very pleasing feeling. I was ecstatic. It was a dream come true. My friends and family were here to enjoy it, as I really wanted to achieve this from the very start of my career.”
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Chasing a mammoth total, England was off to a good start until they hit into Roston Chase, who single handedly blew off the Poms. Despite registering a staggering figures of 8/60, Chase seemed happy for Holder winning the man of the match award.
He said “Jason is a legend in my eyes, a long-time friend, I believe in him and he believes in himself on the field. Could have been no greater feeling than to see him do that double-hundred yesterday. I thought he was going to give it away for a bit, but he really showed the true character that he is. I’m really happy for him and for my friend Shane Dowrich (116*), who came through for the team.”
The second Test match at Antigua will kick off from January 31, where England will fight hard to keep the series alive.
