Transition from captain to player ‘tough’: Holder

KINGSTON: West Indies Test captain Jason Holder has confessed that his transition from ODI captain to “just a player” has not been smooth.

Holder was replaced by Kieron Pollard as the white-ball captain last September, and he admitted adjusting to the new demands was tricky. “To be quite honest, it has been tough transitioning back just as a player,” he said. “In hindsight, it has been tough trying to understand how to get back in as just a player.”

Holder admitted that he had not been a consistent performer over the past year. He took eight wickets in eight innings in the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. But since then has picked up just seven wickets in 10 ODI innings at an average of 69.85 and a strike-rate of 75.4.

“Performances obviously haven’t been there as I would’ve probably liked, but I’m not too disheartened,” he said. “I don’t beat myself up. I don’t get too worried because I know my ability. I know what I can produce. I just know that an innings is around the corner, a bowling effort is around the corner,” he said.

The 28-year-old said that playing a lot of Test and ODI cricket has taken a toll on him both mentally and physically and a break from leadership will allow him to recharge his batteries.

“I felt I needed the break after the India series [in December] particularly, just to refresh,”he said. “I had played every single series in the entire year [in 2019], I played county cricket as well, and my batteries needed a little bit of a recharge.

“Obviously, I needed some time to go and think about how I wanted to go forward as a player and try to work out again how just to be a player as opposed to being the captain.”

With more than 150 international wickets across formats, Holder is one of West Indies’ best fast bowlers in recent times. The paceman is confident in his ability to bounce back and adapt to the changing scenario.

“I don’t think it’s long before you see me getting back to my normal self. I’m very, very confident. I don’t think it’s a question of my ability. I know my ability. It’s just performing and producing.

“As I said the structure and dynamics have changed and based on how things have gone, it is little to no time going in to bat. So I just have got to find ways to cope and produce in the short stints of batting at the international stage. I will work it out. I am confident it will all fall back into place.”