Jason Holder as Captain: Step in the right direction?

Jason Holder has replaced Dwayne Bravo as the captain for the ODI side after the players Dwayne Bravo was dropped along with  Darren Sammy and Keiron Pollard from the ODI squad for the series against South Africa. All the three players have retained their places in the T20 squad though with Darren Sammy remaining the T20 captain.

Dwayne Bravo had replaced Darren Sammy in 2013 for the Champions Trophy in England. West Indies have won 12 out of 27 ODI’s played under Bravo.

According to various media releases, the Clive Llyod led selection committee has taken this step keeping in mind the future of West Indies Cricket. Clyod was quoted as saying, “Jason is one of the good, young players who we believe will form part of the long-term future of West Indies Cricket. ”

“We expect him to be around for a very long time. He is a young man with a very bright future. We have invested in him. He was part of the High Performance Centre and he also played for the West Indies Under-19 Team and the West Indies A Team. He has played ODIs for the West Indies before and has done well. We know he will continue to grow and demonstrate leadership. He has a very good cricketing brain and has the makings of a very good leader.”

Llyod further said that though the people might think that its too close to the World Cup, he is confident that West Indies have a very good team.

Jason Holder, 23 has played 21 One-Day games and has taken 29 wickets so far at an average of 28.65.

What’s interesting to note is, that the move replace Bravo comes after the players withdrew from the India tour in October-November this year. It’s said that Bravo supported the claims of the players in various letters to WICB and WIPA. If Holder has been indeed made Captain to follow the diktat of the WICB, then this move could be disastrous for West Indies Cricket.

Though this move could also work wonder for the West Indies Cricket team if go by the case of Graeme Smith, wherein captaincy brought out the best in him and made him a good batsman as well. But the major issue with Holder will be is how he deals with senior players who have been captain before and bridge the cultural gap among the players who all hail from different island Nations. This was something which Darren Sammy did to perfection and hence enabling West Indies to their first World Cup triumph in 2012 after 33 years.

Moreover, there are also questions whether the 3 players have been dropped for this series so that they can be a part of the ongoing Big Bash League(BBL) in Australia, only to be back again for the World Cup. If that is the motive, it highlights how the West Indies Cricket Board have no control over the senior players who are hot properties in the cash-rich T20 leagues. To rule out this possibility would be foolish as the cricketing world is no stranger to Caribbean players involved in conflicts over playing for Club than the country.

If Jason Holder is made the captain because the selectors feel that he’s priority is towards taking the West Indies cricket to a new level and bring back the glory of old days, then it’s the best decision for the Windies Cricket.

Will things change for West Indies and they’ll put in strong performance at the World Cup? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain Jason Holder has ‘interesting’ times ahead of him