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"First cleanse society of racism and only then will you have no problems in sport" : Michael Holding
In an interview with Saj for iSport, West Indies Legend Michael Holding speaks about the Windies win against England in the 1st Test, Jason Holder's excellent captaincy and why it's not up to sports organizations but their societies to fight against racism.
Michael Holding is understandably elated about West Indies’ triumph over England in the first Test.
“The win is huge for cricket in the Caribbean and will be savoured by the fans who have had very few moments like this in recent years,” the West Indies great tells i.
“I had England as clear favourites going into this series but the West Indian players have come over here and showed a great deal of commitment, character and a lot of skill to defeat England. They put in an excellent effort and undoubtedly deserved the victory.”
While Holding again provided insightful and straight-talking analysis when on commentary at Southampton, it was his passionate piece for Sky Sports on racism ahead of the First Test and his emotional interview for Sky News during the match that caught the world’s attention. Holding feels that society and its leaders need to play a bigger part to eradicate racism.
“I care a lot about racism in society and I believe that you have to first cleanse society and only then will you have no problems in sport,” he says.
“The people from society play sports and it is people from the same society who go to watch those sports. We need people who lead and who teach in this society, to do the leading and to do the teaching. If that happens then by the time those people get to playing or watching sport, it won’t matter because they will have learnt what life is all about and they will have already ditched racism.”
For Holding, the onus lies with society to clean-up its act, which will subsequently have a positive effect on sports as well.
“We don’t need sporting organisations to say it’s their job to get rid of racism,” he says.
“It’s not their job to eradicate racism, rather this is a problem in society. Yes, the sporting organisations must do whatever they can within their sport, but it’s important that whoever it is that is getting the opportunity to play the respective sport, they have a clean mind and that is where society plays an important role.”
In the context of the much-touted decline of the West Indies as a cricketing nation, which now sees them languishing in eighth position in the ICC Test rankings, Holding explained that the victory over England is an encouraging sign.
“They have got into the bad habit of winning a session or two or, at best, winning a day or two in a Test, but have not been performing consistently over five days of a Test match,” Holding says. “This time around, however, it was different, they were competitive on all five days and dominated some days.”
Holding, who played for the West Indies on 162 occasions, also paid tribute to head coach Phil Simmons for his role in guiding a side devoid of big names, but who are displaying the key component of unity.
“One of the biggest problems has been that West Indies teams of the recent past have had one or two superstars, but have not had a team which were all pulling together in the same direction,” Holding says.
“But this current group of guys seem committed to the cause. They have a brilliant coach in Phil Simmons and his results show this. Everywhere he has worked he has had success.”
While the highly-acclaimed English pace attack was the main talking point for many before the First Test, it was the Herculean effort of Shannon Gabriel that Holding says should be appreciated.
“Successful bowling attacks need leaders and Shannon Gabriel was that leader for the West Indies bowlers,” Holding says.
“There were so many doubts surrounding his fitness, but he proved his fitness leading up to the first Test and was eventually included as the 15th squad member. At times he looked a bit tired and stiff in the field, but each time he got the ball, he bowled his heart out. The man was brilliant and his nine wickets in the match were just reward for all of his hard work and effort.
”Jason Holder has been an inspiration for his team and, in Holding’s view, the victory against England was further proof of his ever-improving leadership qualities.
“The first thing you realise about Jason Holder is that he has a very good head on his shoulders. He has the team with him, which is the most important thing as far as captaincy is concerned. It doesn’t matter how good you are as an individual or how good the individuals in your team are, if you don’t have a team which is together and you don’t have the team behind you, then you will suffer.
“Jason’s doing an excellent job as skipper, and has performed with bat and ball in the last year and a half. Before then he was a little topsy-turvy, neither here or there, but consistently over the last 18 months he has shown that he is a very good cricketer and performed with the bat at various times when his team needed it and the same with the ball.”
With an excellent victory under their belts, Holding feels that it’s vital for Phil Simmons to ensure that the West Indies do not lose focus in the remaining two matches against England.
“I don’t think there is a danger of complacency creeping in with Phil Simmons,” he says. “The team and Simmons know they cannot relax just because they have won the first Test. There isn’t a long break between now and the next Test, so they can’t go away and think everything is rosy.”
The England batsmen’s dismal showing in the first innings was one of the key reasons for their loss in Southampton and Holding says that Joe Root’s return will provide a much-needed boost for the hosts.
“The return of Joe Root will give England a lift, as boy do they need his batting,” he said.
“Having been bowled out for 204 in the first innings, they improved second time around, but we have seen so many times if you fail in your first innings with either bat or ball, you are playing catch-up and it’s difficult to come back. They gave West Indies a lead of over 100 and that was always going to be tough to come back from. They’ll welcome Joe Root with open arms due to his batting, but I don’t think they missed much in terms of captaincy though as Ben Stokes did a decent job.”
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in many changes to cricket, but Holding feels that the quality of play in Southampton more than made up for the lack of atmosphere.
“The cricket at Southampton was of a very good standard which is what was needed to detract from the fact that there was nobody in the stands,” he says. “It will take a few matches to get used to it, but at least we are finally seeing some cricket.”
https://inews.co.uk/sport/cricket/m...matter-west-indies-england-test-series-533308
In an interview with Saj for iSport, West Indies Legend Michael Holding speaks about the Windies win against England in the 1st Test, Jason Holder's excellent captaincy and why it's not up to sports organizations but their societies to fight against racism.
Michael Holding is understandably elated about West Indies’ triumph over England in the first Test.
“The win is huge for cricket in the Caribbean and will be savoured by the fans who have had very few moments like this in recent years,” the West Indies great tells i.
“I had England as clear favourites going into this series but the West Indian players have come over here and showed a great deal of commitment, character and a lot of skill to defeat England. They put in an excellent effort and undoubtedly deserved the victory.”
While Holding again provided insightful and straight-talking analysis when on commentary at Southampton, it was his passionate piece for Sky Sports on racism ahead of the First Test and his emotional interview for Sky News during the match that caught the world’s attention. Holding feels that society and its leaders need to play a bigger part to eradicate racism.
“I care a lot about racism in society and I believe that you have to first cleanse society and only then will you have no problems in sport,” he says.
“The people from society play sports and it is people from the same society who go to watch those sports. We need people who lead and who teach in this society, to do the leading and to do the teaching. If that happens then by the time those people get to playing or watching sport, it won’t matter because they will have learnt what life is all about and they will have already ditched racism.”
For Holding, the onus lies with society to clean-up its act, which will subsequently have a positive effect on sports as well.
“We don’t need sporting organisations to say it’s their job to get rid of racism,” he says.
“It’s not their job to eradicate racism, rather this is a problem in society. Yes, the sporting organisations must do whatever they can within their sport, but it’s important that whoever it is that is getting the opportunity to play the respective sport, they have a clean mind and that is where society plays an important role.”
In the context of the much-touted decline of the West Indies as a cricketing nation, which now sees them languishing in eighth position in the ICC Test rankings, Holding explained that the victory over England is an encouraging sign.
“They have got into the bad habit of winning a session or two or, at best, winning a day or two in a Test, but have not been performing consistently over five days of a Test match,” Holding says. “This time around, however, it was different, they were competitive on all five days and dominated some days.”
Holding, who played for the West Indies on 162 occasions, also paid tribute to head coach Phil Simmons for his role in guiding a side devoid of big names, but who are displaying the key component of unity.
“One of the biggest problems has been that West Indies teams of the recent past have had one or two superstars, but have not had a team which were all pulling together in the same direction,” Holding says.
“But this current group of guys seem committed to the cause. They have a brilliant coach in Phil Simmons and his results show this. Everywhere he has worked he has had success.”
While the highly-acclaimed English pace attack was the main talking point for many before the First Test, it was the Herculean effort of Shannon Gabriel that Holding says should be appreciated.
“Successful bowling attacks need leaders and Shannon Gabriel was that leader for the West Indies bowlers,” Holding says.
“There were so many doubts surrounding his fitness, but he proved his fitness leading up to the first Test and was eventually included as the 15th squad member. At times he looked a bit tired and stiff in the field, but each time he got the ball, he bowled his heart out. The man was brilliant and his nine wickets in the match were just reward for all of his hard work and effort.
”Jason Holder has been an inspiration for his team and, in Holding’s view, the victory against England was further proof of his ever-improving leadership qualities.
“The first thing you realise about Jason Holder is that he has a very good head on his shoulders. He has the team with him, which is the most important thing as far as captaincy is concerned. It doesn’t matter how good you are as an individual or how good the individuals in your team are, if you don’t have a team which is together and you don’t have the team behind you, then you will suffer.
“Jason’s doing an excellent job as skipper, and has performed with bat and ball in the last year and a half. Before then he was a little topsy-turvy, neither here or there, but consistently over the last 18 months he has shown that he is a very good cricketer and performed with the bat at various times when his team needed it and the same with the ball.”
With an excellent victory under their belts, Holding feels that it’s vital for Phil Simmons to ensure that the West Indies do not lose focus in the remaining two matches against England.
“I don’t think there is a danger of complacency creeping in with Phil Simmons,” he says. “The team and Simmons know they cannot relax just because they have won the first Test. There isn’t a long break between now and the next Test, so they can’t go away and think everything is rosy.”
The England batsmen’s dismal showing in the first innings was one of the key reasons for their loss in Southampton and Holding says that Joe Root’s return will provide a much-needed boost for the hosts.
“The return of Joe Root will give England a lift, as boy do they need his batting,” he said.
“Having been bowled out for 204 in the first innings, they improved second time around, but we have seen so many times if you fail in your first innings with either bat or ball, you are playing catch-up and it’s difficult to come back. They gave West Indies a lead of over 100 and that was always going to be tough to come back from. They’ll welcome Joe Root with open arms due to his batting, but I don’t think they missed much in terms of captaincy though as Ben Stokes did a decent job.”
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in many changes to cricket, but Holding feels that the quality of play in Southampton more than made up for the lack of atmosphere.
“The cricket at Southampton was of a very good standard which is what was needed to detract from the fact that there was nobody in the stands,” he says. “It will take a few matches to get used to it, but at least we are finally seeing some cricket.”
https://inews.co.uk/sport/cricket/m...matter-west-indies-england-test-series-533308
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