West Indies captain Jason Holder urged everyone in the West Indies dressing room to not move from their seats and called the five-wicket win over England nerve-wracking as his team chased down 322 runs for their first win in England since 2000.
As West Indies got closer to their first Test win in England since 2000, captain Jason Holder urged everyone in the dressing room to not move from their seats and called the five-wicket win over England nerve-wracking.
West Indies completed a brilliant turnaround after losing their first Test by an innings and 209 runs at Edgbaston before levelling the series 1-1 with this win in Leeds.
“I always believe in this group, we’ve done some outstanding things. I sent a text in our team chat this morning, ‘just believe’. I urged no-one to move from their seats, and it was nervewracking in the end. Credit to Shai, and Kraigg Brathwaite. I’m extremely proud of these guys. We’ve come up playing a lot of cricket together for Barbados. It’s about delivering on the big stage,” he said.
Holder did not boost too much on the win and said that they have a lot to improve on and also hold on to the catches that come their way, an area in which they performed disastrously at Headingley.
“There’ve been some hard times, but we’ve felt the support here. We have a number of areas to improve, we need to hold our chances, and need some consistent scores and partnerships. But it sets it up nicely for Lord’s,” he added.
Man-of-the-match Shai Hope, who became the first cricketer to hit centuries in both innings of a first-class game at Headingley, said that he is elated with the win and they were pleased to get over the line in the tense chase.
“I feel elated. We’ve worked hard as a team and we’re pleased to get over the line. I am a professional cricketer for a reason so I always believe in myself. We fought hard throughout the game, so we needed to do well with the bat.”
England captain Joe Root praised the West Indies for a great Test match. He said that his team was great in the fight and declare but it did not feel to end on the losing side.
“It was a great Test match for everyone watching, but it wasn’t great to be on a losing day. The fifth day, on a used wicket against high-quality bowling, great knock [from Shai Hope]. I’m pleased with the character and fight that we showed to get into position to declare, but it wasn’t to be.”
Root took the blame and said that England batsmen weren’t good enough in the Test and it was disappointing to not even get 300 in the first innings. However, he praised debutants Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan for their batting.
“If we are brutally honest we weren’t good enough with the bat. Anytime you bat first and don’t get 300, you’re disappointed,” he said. “They stood up and showed their class. The way we approached that second innings was good. We wanted a positive declaration, when you get an opportunity to win games, you’ve got to take it.”
Online Source: The Indian Express