NORTH SOUND, Antigua, CMC – Jason Holder struck a magnificent, unbeaten maiden Test and first class hundred as West Indies conjured up a sterling effort to escape with a tense draw on the final day of the opening Test against England here yesterday.
The 23-year-old, in only his fourth Test, struck 103, a high class innings that helped West Indies to bat out the day at the Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium and finish on 350 for seven when the 130 overs had expired.
Photo by WICB Media/Randy Brooks of Brooks Latouche Photography
Once West Indies lost three wickets in the first session to stumble to 162 for five, it was obvious that the target of 438 was out of the question. Holder, batting at number eight, then put his head down and more importantly, anchored two key partnerships which frustrated the England attack.
He posted 105 for the seventh wicket with captain Denesh Ramdin who hit 57, and then put on a further 56 with Kemar Roach in an unbroken eighth wicket stand which enabled West Indies to see out the last hour.
Roach faced 55 balls and struck two fours but it was his 1-1/4 hours at the crease which was crucial in taking time out of the game.
All told, the right-handed Holder faced 149 balls in just over 3-1/2 hours at the crease, and struck 15 fours – most of which were exquisite off-side drives.
“My job was simple, it was just to bat. At the beginning of the day, it was a daunting total to try and chase 400-odd runs so it was just for me to go and try to have a knock,” Holder said afterward.
“It was great to see I got the support from the other guys and I thought Denesh Ramdin really put on a good partnership with me and in the end we got home.”
He added: “We didn’t have a good morning [session] but there’s a word we have been using in the dressing room and that’s belief and we had the belief today. I just wanted to occupy the crease and spend some time just wear down the English bowlers.
“Obviously they bowled a few overs in the first innings so it was just to tire them out as much as possible and just be there at the end.”
No such enterprise was envisioned at the start or the day when West Indies lost three wickets for 64 runs in the first session.
Photo by WICB Media/Randy Brooks of Brooks Latouche Photography
Opener Devon Smith, unbeaten on 59 overnight, fell for 65 while his partner Marlon Samuels made 23. The other wicket to fall was that of Shiv Chanderpaul who scored 13.
Smith was the first wicket to fall 45 minutes into the session, when he picked out Gary Ballance at mid-on with off-spinner James Tredwell, as he tried to go over the top.
Samuels, meanwhile, played a couple of crisp strokes down the ground, clearing the ropes at long off with Tredwell and then punching the bowler to the cover boundary, in the same over.
However, he lasted just 15 deliveries after Smith’s dismissal, edging a drive off seamer James Anderson to Tredwell at gully.
England then claimed the prized wicket of veteran left-hander Shiv Chanderpaul for 13, lbw to Root six overs before lunch.
First innings century-maker Jermaine Blackwood, who made 31, and Ramdin, unbeaten on four, carried West Indies to lunch, and then played positively on resumption as they added 34 for the sixth wicket.
Unbeaten on 19 at the interval, Blackwood made clear his intentions, twice going the aerial route for off-side boundaries in the second over from Tredwell after the break.
However, he fell in ungainly fashion about half-hour after the break. Looking to attack, he needlessly charged seamer Chris Jordan and inside-edged a wild swing to wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
His dismissal brought Holder to the crease and he played with aplomb from the outset, mixing a solid defence with intelligent stroke play.
Both he and Ramdin were unbeaten on 48 at tea with West Indies rallying on 268 for six, and the pair completed their respective half-centuries afterward.
Holder was first to his mark in the second over, driving Tredwell sweetly through cover for his eighth four and Ramdin followed three overs later when he turned Jordan to long leg for a single.
With just over an hour left in the day’s play, Ramdin edged seamer Jimmy Anderson to captain Alistair Cook at first slip, to expose the tail and to add further tension to the contest.
The wicket also took Anderson to 384 wickets, breaking Sir Ian Botham’s mark of 383 to become England’s all-time wicket-taker in Tests.
Roach survived an anxious moment when he had made two, given out caught down the leg-side off Anderson but was handed a reprieve by DRS.
Holder, meanwhile, slammed Tredwell to the point boundary to move into the 90s, and reached three figures in the penultimate over of the day with two boundaries off the same bowler.
