The Holford who held fort

Yoursquove heard about brothers featuring in the same Test team but how many times have you noticed two sets of first cousins appearing in the same Test team Well the West Indies playing XI for the opening Test of the 196667 series against India at the Brabourne Stadium had exactly that The cousins were debutant Clive Lloyd and Lance Gibbs from Guyana while skipper Garry Sobers and David Holford from Barbados made up the other pairHolford passed away on Monday at 82 in Barbados after a prolonged illnessHe served West Indies cricket in several roles manager chief selector and mentor to many a player apart from being a quality leggie and batsman who began his 24Test career on the 1966 tour of EnglandInterestingly being over 35 didnrsquot prevent him from being picked for Kerry Packerrsquos World Series Cricket in 1978 That was after he had played his last Test in the home series against Pakistan in 197677In the season prior to his final Test series he produced a 523 spell which helped West Indies bowl out India for just 177 in the first innings of the opening Test at Barbados in 1976 Andy Roberts and Michael Holding tormented the Indians more than the legspinner did but he would have been proud of the fact that the fifer came in his Test comeback after four yearsIt was a performance described by Tony Cozier in Sportsweek as ldquoflattering in the extreme and achieved with conspiracy with the Indian batsmen Gundappa Viswanath and Surinder Amarnath were victims in his very first over both pulling long hops to midwicket Madan Lal Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Singh Bedi all fell to aggressive shots made with their heads in the airrdquoCozier slammed the Indian batting calling it a pathetic show while the close catching and Syed Kirmanirsquos wicketkeeping fell in the ldquoineptrdquo category in Cozierrsquos book Holford claimed only Kirmanirsquos wicket in Indiarsquos second innings as the visitors lost the Test by an innings and 97 runsIndia achieved a remarkable win in the third Test at Trinidad before losing the fourth in Kingston where they were flattened by the pace of Michael HoldingHolfordrsquos finest hour was undoubtedly the century he scored at Lordrsquos in 1966 West Indies encountered turbulence in their second innings Captain Sobers was joined by his cousin at 955 Sobers recalled what he told Holford midpitch in King Cricket a book on the 1966 tour of England and his 2002released autobiography While the instruction to eschew the aggressive shots was clear Sobers also reminded the young gun that no one could get him out on such a flat track and he should treat the task as if he was batting on their home ground the Kensington Oval in BarbadosSobers went about attacking the England bowling and their skipper Colin Cowdrey spread the field with each passing successful West Indies over The ploy of letting Sobers take his singles so that the lesser accomplished batsman gets on strike didnrsquot work Sobers was dropped by Cowdrey then best slip catcher in the world on 93Sobers later allowed Holford to go for his shots He wrote In King Cricket ldquoWhen I felt sure we were out of trouble I said to David lsquoBat as you like now Make your strokesrsquoHe grinned It was like the smile on the face of a tiger when somebody opens his cage And then he set about the ball like a tiger The strokes he had bottled up for so long were just busting out of him now sending him streaking into the nineties Then at last he sent a ball from Barry Knight into the Warner Stand and completed his first century in Test cricketThe crowd didnrsquot just rise to him The Caribbean section of it overwhelmed him Led by a gentleman in a tall hat and carrying a flag he was backed up by a very pretty girl in slacksrdquoHolford 105 and Sobers 163 returned to the Lordrsquos pavilion unconquered after a 274run partnership for the sixth wicketThe match at Lordrsquos was drawn but West Indies cricket found a new star then Sobers knew that there were people within the team who felt that Holford was favoured by him because they were related He also felt that had they not been cousins Holford would have captained the West Indies Apart from being a good student of the game he had a degree in agriculture and anorher one in computer studies revealed SobersHolford found fulfilment in promoting young talent As revealed by cricket writer Rob Steen in his book Desmond HaynesLion of Barbados it was Holford who sounded out then skipper Lloyd of the qualities of Haynes who he led at Barbados Lloyd duly watched Haynes crack a hundred in the Barbados v Pakistan game in February 1977 and by March 1978 Haynes made his Test debut against the touring Australians It is learnt that Holford fasttracked the Test selection of Shivnarine Chanderpaul too in 199394David Anthony Jerome Holford mustnrsquot be forgotten in West Indies and world cricketmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper