West Indies vs Sri Lanka: Jason Holder keeps Test place despite axe as Windies skipper

Jason Holder retained his place in the West Indies Test squad on Friday despite being stripped of the captaincy. Holder was replaced by Kraigg Brathwaite who has been rewarded for the West Indies’ unexpected success in Bangladesh last month by being appointed full-time skipper. His fellow-Barbadian Holder served over five years at the helm of the Caribbean side in the Test format but opted to miss the Bangladesh campaign due to Covid 19 concerns. In his absence, the West Indies swept the two-match series. Notwithstanding his demotion, which follows him being replaced as leader of the One-Day International and T20 teams by Kieron Pollard a year earlier, Holder retains his place in the Test squad. His role will be as the premier all-rounder going into the first Test of the two-match series against Sri Lanka, starting 21 March at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Darren Bravo, who also opted out the Bangladesh tour, returns to the Test side. But most of the players from the successful campaign have been retained including batsmen Nkrumah Bonner and Kyle Mayers. Bonner’s consistency in his first series earned him the ‘Man of the Series’ accolade while Mayers compiled a sensational unbeaten 210 in his debut Test as the West Indies successfully chased a target of 395 on the last day of the first Test in Chattogram. “It is good to be able to put together a Test squad with a number of players coming off very good performances in their last series in Bangladesh,” said lead selector Roger Harper. “It is very important to continue the process of working hard, playing with great passion, playing with determination and a great desire to succeed. Doing that consistently will bring us the right results.” Brathwaite, a phlegmatic opening batsman who averages 32.57 from 66 Tests dating back to his debut against Pakistan in St Kitts in 2011, had lost the previous five Tests in which he stood in as a replacement for the absent Holder before this year’s success in Bangladesh. West Indies squad to face Sri Lanka in the first Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua from 21-25 March: Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Jermaine Blackwood (vice-captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo, John Campbell, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican