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Among best 6, no pace bowler achieved the degree of perfection as Michael Holding

By Harsh Thakor* 

In February this year, we celebrated the 70th birthday of former Caribbean pace bowler Michael Holding, who simply composed poetry on cricket field, taking grace to heights of divinity. ‘Whispering Death’ was the perfect name attributed to Holding, with batsmen literally left clueless whether the ball had passed the bat. His deliveries would skid through like a bullet in spite of the minimum of effort.
Holding in his run up literally floated on the ground, with the smoothness of a Rolls Royce car with his feet rarely skimming the grass and when delivering the ball resembled a cobra coiling its head. Arguably no pace bowler ever achieved such a degree of perfection in bowling action. Holding almost never delivered a no ball. 
Arguably consistently he possessed more speed through the air than any pace bowler and at full speed he was the most daunting proposition to face than any fast bowler ever with his full length and ability to obtain steep bounce so near the bat. 
Holding was much more built to be an athlete and did not possess the physique of a fast bowler Initially he started of as a champion athlete as a sprinter on the track, before he chose Cricket as his career. 
Holding  as part of the pace quartet played an instrumental role in shaping West Indies into the champion test and One day side of all time. It was the tutelage of partner Andy Roberts that turned Holding into a great bowler. With partner Andy Roberts, he constituted one of cricket’s most lethal pace bowling duo’s ever in the game.

Test cricket career

In his debut series in Australia in 1975-76 he had great difficulty in adjusting as part of the team that suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat in Australia. 
Although expensive he gave glimpses of his prowess when at times unsettling batsmen like the Chappell brothers. In the subsequent home series against India he bowled flat out to taunt the Indian batsmen, capturing 19 wickets. At Kingston on a wicket with uneven bounce, he simply sent shock waves to the Indian batsmen, creating effect of a blood bath, injuring half the Indian side.
In the 1976 on the tour of England, Holding in 4 tests captured 28 wickets at an average of around 14.With a spell of 5-17 he ripped the heart out of the English batting at Leeds. At the Oval in the final test he took 8-92 and 6-57, which is till today considered the greatest pace bowling effort ever. 
On a track as docile as a pancake, he created effect of a Tsunami in no man’s land, giving art of fast bowling a new definition. Possibly never has such a carnage been witnessed on a cricket field as effortlessly or with such a degree of finesse. 12 of his 14 victims were either bowled or leg before, inspite of minimal movement. 
Holding missed the 1977 home series versus Pakistan but returned with a bang in Kerry Packer WSC Cricket. Although somewhat inconsistent being beset by injury in Australia from 1977-78, at times at his best he was a more daunting proposition than even Dennis Lillee or Andy Roberts. 
In the 1st supertest of 1977 against Australia his 4 scalps set the pace for a West Indies win. Batsmen changed ends to face Roberts rather than face Holding. Arguably never in Australia had an overseas paceman produced such lightning speed since the War. In 1979 in West Indies he was the most successful bowler capturing 24 scalps in 5 games.
On return from WSC Holding played an instrumental part in the greatest pace bowling quartet ever, in tandem with Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Colin Croft and later Malcolm Marshall. His blistering spells played major role in West Indies winning their first ever test series on Australian soil in 1979-80.
At Melbourne his 4scalps of Kim Hughes, Rodney Marsh, Greg Chappell played an important part in his team's triumph with the home side being bundled out for a mere 156.
In 1980 in England he captured 20 wickets, with rain often robbing his team from achieving a win. His 6-67 at Lords and 4 wickets at the Oval was simply fast bowling at its fieriest. In the latter game his sensational burst sent England rattling at 92-9 at lunch on the last day, with only a 119 last wicket stand between Peter Willey and Bob Willis pulling England out of the woods.
In a home series in 1981 against England he was an epitome of consistency capturing 17 wickets at an average of around 19.In the Kingston test his opening over to Geoff Boycott escalated skill at a height possibly never transcended before. 
The first five deliveries were set up to build a thrilling climax. Three deliveries of that over alarmingly reared from a good length to Boycott’s neck, with the final delivery castling the gate of Boycott to send his stumps cartwheeling. 
In 1981-82 in Australia Holding was arguably the best fast bowler in the world, capturing 24 wickets in 3 tests, often being as quick as Jeff Thomson at his fastest. 
Holding synthesized pace, movement, correct length and control to take allround skill to heights rarely transcended.   At Melbourne in the 1st test although his team was defeated he produced 2 of the most penetrative and hostile spells ever on Australian soil, capturing 11 wickets. In the 2nd innings remarkably, he captured most of his scalps of a shorter run up. 
In 1982-83 he had a relatively poor series against India but in a six test series in India in 1983-84 he captured  22 scalps at an average of 22.10.In many ways he resembled the Andy Roberts of 1974-75 ,mustering  swing, change of pace  and sideways movement. In terms of pure bowling skill, he surpassed even Malcolm Marshall, on that tour. 
Till the final test, it is notable that Holding was the highest wicket taker of the series with 29 scalps, before being overtaken by Malcolm Marshal in the final test who had an overall haul of 33 wickets. His ripping apart the top Indian Middle order at Kolkata, the skill he displayed on a docile surface at Mumbai to captured 6 wickets and his mastery in exploiting of conditions on a broken track at Ahmadabad, proved he possessed all-round skill of the very best.
In 1984-85 he was often sidelined by injuries, but at his best was major architect in shaping West Indies into arguably what was the best test team ever. . His 6-21 at Perth in 1984-85 ranked amongst the most lethal pace bowling spells ever on a cricket pitch, literally creating effect of a Tsunami.
From 1986 a gradual decline began in his career coinciding with that in West Indian cricket as a whole and he retired after the 1987 tour of New Zealand.
Holding synthesized pace, movement, correct length and control to take allround skill to heights rarely transcended
In ODI cricket Holding was one of the most economical bowlers ever and at his best amongst the most lethal.IN WSC game in 1978 his 5 wicket haul was simply classical. He was a vital factor in West Indies successive triumphs in the Benson and Hedges triangular tournament down under in 1979-80, 1981-82, 1983-84 and 1984-85 and the 1979 Prudential World cup.
At times Holding could come out with dashing cameos with the bat like in the 1st game against India in the 1983 world cup.

Evaluation of Holding as a pace bowler and cricketer 

Statistically he captured 249 quickest in 60 tests at an average of 23.68 and strike rate of 50.9 with 13 five wicket hauls which is below the bracket of the very greatest. In ODI’s he captured 142 scalps at an average of 21, 36, in 192 games  with an economy rate of 2.79.In test matches won Holding averaged 18.36 and captured 152 scalps. 
Regretfully his run up was too lengthy and he depended too much on  sheer speed for a great part of his career, only at a later stage blending movement, and changes in pace .like partner Andy Roberts. Another obstacle that acted against his prospects was that he was consistently beset by injuries. 
Many experts, in terms of all round skill, bracket Holding, with the very greatest pace bowlers like Dennis Lillee and Malcolm Marshall.
Mike Procter, Neil Harvey, Ray Illingworth, Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan, Syed Kirmani and Lawrence Rowe ,chose Holding in their all-time X1, for his speed and all-round skill.
Imran Khan rates Holding as the most perfect fast bowler of his time.
Ranking 100 best cricketers of all,Cristopher Martin Jenkins rated Holding at 85th place, Geoff Armstrong at 71st  and John Woodcock m at 65th  who ranked him  ahead of any great West Indies paceman. 
Ray Lindwall ranked Holding behind only Dennis Lillee in his era and amongst his 7 best fast bowlers ever. Len Hutton rated Holding as the best of the then West Indian pace quartet, who in his view took too long a run up, which could have been reduced by around 10 yards. 
Arguably, consistently, he was quicker than even Jeff Thomson. I find it very hard to separate Michael Holding and Andy Roberts with not even a whisker separating the two giants.
In my view, when compared to the best pace bowlers ever, Holding could rank amongst the 6 most complete ever. To me if he had done complete justice to his talent, Holding could have ranked amongst the top 5 ever. Taking all factors into consideration I would rank Holding amongst the dozen finest pace bowlers of all time. In my World XI of the 1970’s and 80’s, Holding would miss out by just a whisker to Andy Roberts, Jeff Thomson or Richard Hadlee. 
It is regrettable that on the cricket field his behaviour has often been abusive, often bursting out in temper abusing the officials, depriving cricket from being a gentleman‘s game. It was amply displayed in the bloodbath at Kingston against India in 1976 and in New Zealand in 1980. Still I admire his apologetic attitude towards India in the Kingston bloodbath in 1976, where he admitted that is team overdid short-pitched stuff.

Holding after retirement

After his retirement Holding  became an astute  commentator and judge He  judged both Muthiah Murlitharan and Shoaib Akhtar to be chuckers. Sadly he has often not given the likes of Lara and Tendulkar their due, being critical of their handling of genuine pace. At times he was over subjective. and harsh.
Holding ranks Viv Richards the best batsman he ever saw, Malcolm Marshall, Glen Mcgrath ,Dennis Lillee and Dale Steyn the best pace bowlers ever  and Sunil Gavaskar,Ian Chappell and Ricky Ponting as the best batsmen against genuine pace bowling. Holding felt Andy Roberts was the most underestimated of fast bowlers while Ian Chappell was the ultimate player to bat for your life. He has no doubt that the West Indies tem of his day under Clive Lloyd was the best team of all time.
Holding also was great horse racing enthusiast, owning racehorses and even winning races in West Indies and England.
Holding has also been a most vocal spokesman against racism leaving no stone unturned in defending ‘Black Lives Matter.’
---
*Freelance journalist 

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