Holder urges West Indies to ‘hit the ground running’ vs Zimbabwe

JASON Holder has urged his West Indies teammates to “hit the ground running” when they face Zimbabwe in their ICC T20 World Cup First Round Group B encounter at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Australia on Wednesday.

At the Bellerive Oval on Monday, the West Indies were soundly beaten by 42 runs against Scotland while Zimbabwe whipped Ireland by 31 runs.

Holder was one of the few shining lights for the West Indies on Monday. He took two wickets for 14 runs, off three overs, as Scotland posted 160 runs for the loss of five wickets. Holder then top-scored with 38, off 33 balls, as the West Indies were bowled out for 118 off 18.3 overs.

Holder touched on the attitude within the squad after the Scotland defeat.

“We had a tough start (on Monday),” he said, during a Zoom media conference on Tuesday (Monday evening TT time). “We're all disappointed by the performance that we had, but I think the most important thing for us is to come together, even tighter now, and try to find solutions.

“We had a pretty good chat after the game and I'm sure guys went into their rooms and reflected on their performance (on Monday). No doubt I think we have what it takes to turn it around and it’s more-or-less hitting the ground running against Zimbabwe, starting that game well and beating them.”

The top two teams from this group will advance to the Super 12 phase of the T20 World Cup.

The West Indies lost five wickets to spin on Monday, with left-armer Mark Watt taking 3/12 and off-spinner Michael Leask 2/15.

Holder made it clear that “I'm not too worried about us playing against spin. For us, it’s about playing situations a little bit better, building a few more partnerships in the middle phases of the innings and setting it up nicely for the heavy hitters in the back.”

Asked what the West Indies team expect from Zimbabwe, Holder replied, “They seem to be on a nice winning streak (eight out of their last nine T20 Internationals) so we expect a highly competitive game and probably one of the toughest games we’ll have in this competition, and no doubt we know the magnitude of the game.”

The two-time T20 World Cup champions are known for their six-hitting ability, but Holder commented, “We’ve got to find solutions. We obviously didn’t bat well (on Monday) and we’ve probably let ourselves down with the bat in the recent past.

“We just need to understand what is required of us when we go out to bat and find ways to form partnerships, to make it easier as we go on in the tournament.”

About the pace-friendly conditions in Australia, the experienced fast-medium bowler said, “The conditions here are really good for bowling. You tend to get a little bit more bounce on these surfaces and a little bit more movement.

“Maybe we’ve got to be a little bit more clinical when we bowl and definitely improve on our batting.”