Windies skipper Jason Holder reckons teams gritty fightback against hosts England on Day Four is one of the top moments in his captaincy tenure
West Indies captain Jason Holder (right) and teammate John Campbell celebrate after winning the first Test against England on Sunday. Pic/AFP
West Indies captain Jason Holder eulogised his team's gritty fightback on Day Four of the first Test against England, saying it was, "by far the best effort" he has seen from the side under his leadership.
The West Indies took five wickets for just 30 runs to leave England at 284 for eight at stumps on Day Four. The effort from the pacers, late in the day, proved decisive in their four-wicket win on Sunday with Jermaine Blackwood making a match-winning 95.
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"Yesterday's effort was by far the best effort I've seen from this group. And not only the bowlers—the fielders kept running round, getting through the overs, and we all kept our energy up right throughout the day," Holder said in the post-match media interaction on Sunday.
"The reason I say that it was the best day for me is down to the fact that every single time I asked for effort from those bowlers, no one said 'no, I can't, I'm too tired.' They just kept running in.
"At that stage when Stokesy [Ben] and Zak [Crawley] were batting, the game started to look a little bit less likely for us to win. We knew we couldn't lose—we backed ourselves not to lose—but we wanted to win the game, and we knew how important it was for us to win."
The famous win on Sunday was West Indies's first in the opening Test of an away series in almost 13 years. Holder led from the front, taking a career-best six wicket-haul in the first innings. "We've had so many dark days in the past that we understand moments in the game that we need to seize."
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