Holder replaces Denesh Ramdin as West Indies Test captain

Holder replaces Denesh Ramdin as West Indies Test captain: The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has announced that Jason Holder will be the new captain of the national Test team; he replaces wicket keeper Denesh Ramdin. The 23-year-old, who has played eight Test matches from his debut last year, took over the ODI leadership in December and will lead the side for the first time in their two-Test series in Sri Lanka next month. The Windies were knocked out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage but Holder earned admiring feedback for his leadership.

The WICB said the recommendation of Holder from the selection panel was unanimously endorsed by the board’s directors.

Clive Lloyd the head selector said, “He is a young man that all of the selectors, people in the Caribbean and worldwide believe has several of the qualities that can take our team forward, We felt the time was right for a change and we feel he will do as well as he did when he was elevated to the position of One-day International captain ahead of the World Cup”

While Lloyd felt Holder had the ability to lead in all three formats, he added that he didn’t want to burden him with Twenty20 International captaincy. “We do not want any captain to lead in all three formats just now, it would be quite burdensome on anyone. We think we can have a separate Twenty20 captain” he said.

Ramdin took over as Test captain in 2014 and has guided the side in 13 Tests with 4 wins, 7 losses and 2 draws. The wicket keeper-batsman, who has scored four Test hundreds in 69 Tests overall, averaged 22 with the bat as captain and scored two half-centuries in that period.

Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor, and Shannon Gabriel will be part of the pace attack, while Devendra Bishoo will lead the spin attack. Jomel Warrican is the only new face in the side that lost 2-0 in the home series against Australia, coming in for Veerasammy Permaul, while Kraigg Brathwaite was named as Holder’s deputy. There was no place for Chris Gayle, with the big-hitting opening batsman recovering from surgery on a long-standing back injury.

West Indies will reach Sri Lanka early in October and play the Tests at Galle and Colombo. This will then be followed by a three-match ODI series and two T20I matches.

West Indies Test side:

Jason Holder (c), Kraigg Brathwaite (vc), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Rajindra Chandrika, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Jomel Warrican