LONDON: West Indies skipper Jason Holder says he is not interested in personal accolades ahead of the first Test against England starting today despite it being billed as a clash between the world’s best two all rounders.
Holder, trying to become the first West Indies captain to win a series in England since Viv Richards in 1988, is top of the ICC’s all rounder rankings with Ben Stokes, who will skipper England for the first time this week, second.
“I don’t really like to get into these personal accolades or ICC rankings,” Holder told a news conference ahead of the match.
“Ben has always been talked up and quite rightfully so, he’s a really good cricketer, but the ICC rankings say that I’m the No. 1 ranked all rounder and maybe don’t get as much credit as probably I deserve, who knows?
“I don’t get caught up with it to be honest. Journalists are there to write their stories, I am merely here to play cricket. It’s always a good battle on the field when you face competitors like Stokesy, face competitors around the world.”
West Indies have a formidable-looking bowling attack and Holder believes enough experienced heads in the squad to make things extremely difficult for Stokes.
“If you look at the calibre of players we’ve got – Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope have had success here in England and that is just to name a few,” he said.
“I am more than confident that these guys will do well in this series.”