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With an in-form batting line-up and a varied bowling attack, Afghanistan hold the aces against Zimbabwe in the knockout clash in Nagpur

The Preview by Firdose Moonda11-Mar-2016

Match facts

Saturday, March 12, 2016
Start time 1500 local (0930GMT)

Big Picture

A week hasn’t even passed yet in the World Twenty20, but a final is already in the offing. Well, a final of sorts.Zimbabwe and Afghanistan face each other in a shootout for a place in the main draw, after two wins each. The Full Member, though, isn’t the favourite. Afghanistan are ranked ninth, two places above Zimbabwe, and hold the advantage. Zimbabwe have never beaten Afghanistan in T20 internationals in four attempts. Zimbabwe’s performance has been sloppy this tournament, but they scrambled to wins over Hong Kong and Scotland. Afghanistan’s wins, on the other hand, have been more emphatic.Afghanistan have hit rhythm with a batting line-up in which everybody has contributed, supporting a largely varied attack. Zimbabwe are still searching for theirs. Their most in-form batsman, captain Hamilton Masakadza, has been run-out in both matches and the top order hasn’t provided bright starts for the middle order to build on. Zimbabwe’s bowling is their stronger suit, but they tend to let things drift. Zimbabwe need to step up in all departments if they are to put it across Afghanistan. Neutral fans are likely to back Afghanistan, the darlings of global events in recent years, and a side with the potential to topple Full Members.

Form guide

(last five completed games most recent first)

ZimbabweWWWWL
Afghanistan WWWWL

In the spotlight

Afghanistan’s top three have been aggressive upfront with scores 68 for 0 and 79 for 1 in the first ten overs of their previous two matches, but they will face their biggest challenge in Zimbabwe’s seamers who have the craft to tie down the batsmen in the opening passages. In their two matches, Zimbabwe had reduced the opposition to 48 for 2 and 61 for 5 at the halfway stage. Mohammad Shahzad, Noor Ali Zadran and Asghar Stanikzai will have to be wary of the threat posed by the seamers as well as left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza.

Team news

Zimbabwe have stuck to the same XI for both matches, but they may consider strengthening their batting by adding either wicketkeeper-batsman Peter Moor or allrounder Chamu Chibhabha in the middle order. They may have to leave out Malcolm Waller to do that. Vusi Sibanda, who needed four stitches on his chin, and did not take the field in the chase, after colliding with Hamilton while attempting a quick single on Thursday, has been passed fit to play.Zimbabwe: (probable) 1 Hamilton Masakadza, 2 Vusi Sibanda, 3 Richmond Mutumbami (wk), 4 Sean Williams, 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Peter Moor/Chamu Chibhabha/Malcolm Waller, 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Donald Tiripano, 9 Wellington Masakadza, 10 Tinashe Panyangara, 11 Tendai ChataraHamid Hassan replaced Amir Hamza in the Afghanistan XI that beat Hong Kong but the side may be tempted to recall the left-arm spinner on these sluggish tracks.Afghanistan: (probable) 1 Mohammad Shahzad (wk), 2 Noor Ali Zadran, 3 Asghar Stanikzai (capt), 4 Mohammad Nabi,5 Gulbaddin Naib, 6 Shafiqullah, 7 Dawlat Zadran, 8 Najibullah Zadran, 9 Samiullah Shemwari, 10 Rashid Khan, 11 Hamid Hassan/Amir Hamza

Pitch and conditions

The Nagpur surface seemed to slow down from Tuesday to Thursday. So if the trend continues, run-scoring will be more difficult on Saturday, although Afghanistan’s batting line-up is in form. Of more interest will be the crowd. Tuesday’s opener had taken place in front of a sparse crowd (182 approximately) and things went bad on Thursday, when some fans were locked out of the stadium because of a ticketing fiasco. Since this is the first match on a weekend, the turnout may increase. Saturday will also be a furnace in Nagpur with temperatures set to hit 40 degrees.

Stats and trivia

• Afghanistan have won 16 of their last 20 T20 matches, dating back to March 2014, including four victories over Zimbabwe.
• Zimbabwe have never beaten Afghanistan in a T20 and have lost eight of the 14 ODIs they have played against them.

Quotes

“They just want to make a mark in world cricket and prove people wrong, and [prove] that they are good enough to play at this level. They have done everything right; they have played aggressively in this format to give themselves the best chance. More often than not, when you are aggressive in this format, you will come up trumps. Not many expected Afghanistan to [beat us] – they are forever underdogs and you are different when you are an underdog.”

England and Sussex wicketkeeper Matt Prior has announced his retirement due to the Achilles injury which required surgery last year

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jun-20152:21

‘Turbo-charged’ Prior set the trend for attacking English cricket – Butcher

England and Sussex wicketkeeper Matt Prior has announced his retirement due to the Achilles injury which required surgery last year.Following the second Test against India, at Lord’s, Prior had an operation which ruled him out of the remainder of the 2014 season but retained hopes of resuming his career. However, he recently told ESPNcricinfo that his recovery was like “two steps forward and four steps back” and has been forced to concede he will not return.”Today is a very sad day for me as I am forced to announce my retirement from the game I love,” he said. “I had been hoping and expecting to be fit for the start of the 2015 season. Unfortunately, this has proved impossible, and I have now had to reach this decision.”I feel honoured to have played for Sussex and England as many times as I have and shared so many great times with both teams. I also feel privileged to have been involved in an era of such success for English cricket.”I would like to thank my family, team-mates, coaches and the people behind the scenes that have supported me throughout the years. I have created friendships that will last forever. It would also be remiss of me not to thank the fantastic support I have had from cricket fans both at home and abroad.”I have always tried to play with pride and passion and have a deep belief that the team will always come first. A value that will never leave me whatever I go on to do. Although I haven’t achieved all the goals I had set out to, I feel immensely proud of what I have done in my career. Sadly it is now time to move on.”Prior, 33, played 79 Tests, scoring 4099 runs and claiming 256 dismissals which left him second behind Alan Knott in the list of England’s wicketkeepers. He was part of three Ashes series victories and was also part of the England team which reached No. 1 in the Test rankings in 2011.He made a century on his Test debut against West Indies, at Lord’s, in 2007 and his top score of 131 not out came in Port of Spain in early 2009 following a recall to the side late the previous year after a gap of a year. That was one of seven Test hundreds – the last of which was the monumental rearguard against New Zealand in Auckland.Although he did not find the same success in white-ball cricket at international level, he played 68 ODIs and 10 T20s.Overall he played 249 first-class matches and scored 13,228 runs at 39.25 while claiming 683 dismissals.Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, said: “Matt has had a wonderful career as a wicketkeeper batsman for both Sussex and England. During a period where the Test team won three Ashes series and achieved the world No.1 ranking, Matt’s contribution, both on and off the field, was immense.”It is a huge shame that his career has come to an end in this way, although his athletic wicket-keeping and counter attacking batting will live long in the memories of both his team mates and England supporters.”Mark Robinson, the Sussex director of cricket, said: “It is a sad day when a cricketer of such talent and character and who has achieved so much, and has the ability to achieve so much more, is forced to retire through injury.”Matt has done great things for the club but more importantly, has done what we all dream of, which is play for his country with honour and distinction. On behalf of all the current playing side of the club, but also on behalf of all those who have played with him in the past, we thank him for the memories and wish him all the luck for the next stage of his life.”

Brisbane Heat will also be missing Marnus Labuschagne and Matt Renshaw for the Challenger final at the SCG

Tristan Lavalette31-Jan-2023Brisbane Heat and Sydney Sixers have been left pondering the sizeable batting holes of their departed Test players ahead of Thursday’s clash at the SCG with a grand final spot up for grabs.Heat captain Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Matt Renshaw, along with Sixers opener Steven Smith, will be unavailable for the ‘Challenger’ final due to being part of Australia’s Test tour of India.The Heat trio sparked a resurgence with the team winning six of their last seven matches after being mired for much of the season near the bottom of the ladder.They each made important contributions in finals victories on the road against Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Renegades to have Heat positioned for an unlikely tilt at a second BBL title.Related

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But without three of their top four, Heat’s batting depth will be tested as they recalled Nathan McSweeney, Max Bryant and Sam Heazlett to curb an expected fired-up Sixers attack, who were clobbered by Scorchers batters Ashton Turner and Cameron Bancroft in the qualifying final.McSweeney has only played three matches this season, but notably smashed 84 off 51 balls against Sixers in Heat’s 15-run victory at the Gabba in a high-scoring contest on January 1.Once part of a devastating opening partnership with Chris Lynn, big-hitter Bryant failed to fire from seven matches this season and averaged just 15.71.The 27-year-old Heazlett has not played this season, but the bright finals lights shouldn’t faze him having mustered 48 BBL matches over the past seven seasons.”We have lost some of our Australian players but the guys we are bringing in have played the format before so I don’t have a problem with it,” said Heat coach Wade Seccombe. “They have performed when they came in.”Sixers don’t have as many holes to fill, but nonetheless need to replace Smith, who lit up the BBL with ballistic batting marked by consecutive centuries.Nathan McSweeney will return to Brisbane Heat’s line-up•Getty Images

“We’ve played 10 games without Steve and had a few wins along the way so we’re familiar with this group,” said veteran batter Jordan Silk, who re-signed with Sixers on a three-year deal.Sixers appear to have a ready made replacement in stalwart Daniel Hughes, who has been a reliable batter for Sixers over the years but restricted to just three matches this season.”[Hughes] has trained well, he’s been great around the group all year. He’s probably one of the more unlucky players in the competition to not be playing,” Silk said. “He’s been a reliable performer at the Sixers for a number of years.”There are other options with Kurtis Patterson, who starred as an opener during Perth Scorchers’ title-winning run last season, possibly being considered to move up the order having batted at No. 3 since Smith’s return.While allrounder Hayden Kerr could rekindle his elevation from last season’s corresponding match, where he memorably hit an unbeaten 98 as an opener to lift Sixers past Adelaide Strikers in a last-ball thriller.”[Kerr] is a vital piece for us down in that middle to lower order,” Silk said. “Whether we’d see his value at the top in a game like this, I’m not sure what’ll happen there. He’s almost been probably too good at the role he’s played at six to warrant moving him.”As they eye a seventh grand final appearance, Silk said Sixers would target Heat’s new-look batting line-up.”They have some big holes from a batting sense,” Silk said. “Looking back to the game at the Gabba, where they were without those [Test] batters, [Josh] Brown and McSweeney stepped up. Queensland produce very good cricketers. We will do our research so we can stop them.”The winner plays Perth Scorchers on Saturday at Optus Stadium with a crowd of more than 50,000 expected.

New Zealand Croatia, a side comprising New Zealand cricketers of Croatian origin, are scheduled to embark on their maiden cricket tour to Cook Islands

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Aug-2013New Zealand Croatia, a side comprising New Zealand cricketers of Croatian origin, are scheduled to embark on their maiden cricket tour to the Cook Islands. The side will participate in a tri-series against the senior and Under-19 sides of Cook Islands between August 12 and August 16.Joseph Yovich, an opening batsman for Northern Districts and one of the founding members of the New Zealand Croatia side, said the tour was an opportunity for cricketers to discover links to Croatia’s cricketing history.”New Zealand Croatia is distinct from the Croatia national team, and creates another great opportunity for cricketers with Croatian heritage in New Zealand to unite, to learn more about the 200-year history of the game in Croatia, and the link it has with New Zealand,” cricketer Joseph Yovich said. “It will strengthen those bonds within the game and, at the same time, we’ll be helping develop cricket in the Cook Islands – an ICC Affiliate member – which has very strong links to New Zealand, and particularly Northern Districts, which assists with coaching and resources in the islands.”Cricket was introduced to Croatia when British soldiers established a base during the Napeolonic Wars (1803-1815). Interest in the game dwindled but a few Australian and New Zealand cricketers, who returned to the country in the late 1990s, worked at reviving interest in the game. Croatia became an Affiliate Member in 2001 and has since hosted different touring sides, including the MCC squad in 2009.The New Zealand Croatia squad to the Cook Islands features four New Zealand-based players who have been involved in cricket development in Croatia: current Croatia internationals Paul and John Vujnovich (the current Croatia captain), Anthony Govorko and former international Anton Vujcich. Anton Devcich is unavailable due to his New Zealand A commitments, while Dusan Hakaraia and Michael Ravlic are also missing out.New Zealand Croatia will also visit schools and promote women’s cricket as well as the game’s development at the grassroots level on their tour.New Zealand Croatia squad: Matthew Adsett, John Arnerich, Brad Bennetto, Anthony Govorko, Daniel Marsic, James Piskulic, Matthew Vujcich, Anton Vujcich, John Vujnovich, Paul Vujnovich, Joseph Yovich.

An unbeaten 51 by Lendl Simmons led West Indies A to a comprehensive win over Sri Lanka A in the second T20 at Kingstown

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jun-2013
ScorecardAn unbeaten 51 by Lendl Simmons led West Indies A to a comprehensive win over Sri Lanka A in the second T20 at Kingstown. The one-sided game was set up by the West Indies bowlers who restricted the visitors to 81. The target was chased down with nearly eight overs to spare and the hosts took the series 1-0 after the opening game was washed out.Sri Lanka struggled from the time they were put in to bat, tottering at 17 for 4 at one stage. A combination of pace and spin kept them in check. Legspinner Samuel Badree finished with miserly figures of 5 for 1 off four overs and Ashley Nurse claimed three middle-order wickets to finish with 3 for 15. The majority of the top order fell to single-digit scores, four batsmen fell for 10 and the highest score of the innings was 11 by the No.10 Madura Lakmal.The chase was dominated by Simmons, who smashed five sixes and three fours. The Sri Lankan bowlers reduced the visitors to 48 for 4 at one stage, but didn’t have enough runs on the board to enforce more pressure. Simmons sealed the win with consecutive sixes off Niroshan Dickwella.

On a pitch that offered substantial assistance, Sri Lanka’s spin-bowling coach felt his bowlers were somewhat overeager

Andrew Fidel Fernando23-Nov-2021Sri Lanka’s young trio of frontline spinners has taken seven wickets between them and seemingly put the team in a strong position in the opening Test against West Indies. But spin-bowling coach Piyal Wijetunge thinks they could have done much better.Offspinner Ramesh Mendis (26 years old), and left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama (23), took three wickets apiece, and Lasith Embuldeniya (25) took one, to help reduce West Indies to 224 for 9 before rain washed out much of day three’s play.But on a pitch that offered substantial assistance, Wijetunge thought his bowlers were somewhat overeager.”I’m not 100% happy – we could have done much better. We have been missing lines and lengths very frequently,” Wijetunge said of the performance. “We’ve got three young spinners, and on this pitch, which turns a lot, I think we were trying too hard to get wickets. We need to have patience, because the pitch does help us.”Instead of bowling the ball in one spot and waiting for the pitch to do the work, we went hunting for wickets. We tried too many things. But of these three spinners, Lasith Embuldeniya has played 12 [11] Tests, Praveen Jayawickrama has played two [one], and Ramesh Mendis three [two]. They need to keep building on their consistency.”However, Wijetunge did believe that Sri Lanka’s spin bowling was generally in a good place, with these three spinners around for the Test format, and others coming through the system. Sri Lanka are fielding two frontline left-arm spinners for the first time since the retirement of Rangana Herath (he had occasionally played alongside Malinda Pushpakumara late in his career). Wijetunge outlined Embuldeniya and Jayawickrama’s contrasting strengths.”Lasith Embuldeniya is a conventional type left-arm spinner, and of the three who are playing this game, he’s the most consistent in terms of his skill.”Praveen took 11 wickets on debut, and on this Galle pitch we would anyway consider him. He’s got natural variation, with the seam angles he uses. The ball straightens and when it hits the seam, it spins more than [it does] for the others. When they have exposure and experience, they are definitely going to be matchwinners.”Where Jayawickrama, in particular, has a decent straighter ball, but Embuldeniya has not yet developed a good version of that variation – something that was obvious during England’s tour of Sri Lanka in January. Where Emuldeniya and Wijetunge might have ordinarily worked on developing a straighter delivery through the course of the year, this has not been possible in 2021.”The one that comes in [to the right-hander] is definitely one that we have to work on with Embuldeniya. But with Covid-19 and the protocols around it, it has been difficult to work in new skills. We get bubbled a maximum of two weeks before the series, and the only thing we can do as coaches then is to get the players game-ready.”Before this, we had off-season training at the high performance centre, where we could have developed variations, or worked on consistency. But we haven’t had that chance, and there are only five or six skill-training sessions per series.”

Gladiators allrounder stretchered off to an ambulance as second innings got underway

Sreshth Shah11-Jun-2021Playing his first match of PSL 2021, Quetta Gladiators’ Andre Russell was struck on the helmet while batting and later replaced by fast bowler Naseem Shah under the concussion-sub rule at the innings break. The decision to replace the allrounder with Naseem did not seem to go down well with Islamabad United; their captain Shadab Khan could be seen talking to umpire Aleem Dar before the second innings began.During the first over of the second innings, Russell was stretchered out from the dressing room to an ambulance. He had received the blow to the head in the 14th over of Gladiators’ innings. He hit two sixes off Muhammad Musa in that over before he was slow on a pull shot to a bouncer from the pacer. After being struck, Russell was checked by a physio and allowed to continue batting, although he was out next ball, caught at third man.The rules on concussion substitutes state that any concussed player can be replaced by someone outside the XI, as long as the match referee agrees that the incoming player is a like-for-like replacement. Although Russell is a pace-bowling allrounder and Naseem is a specialist fast bowler, the decision to allow Naseem as a replacement might have been based on Russell’s inability to deliver four overs in Gladiators’ bowling innings.Naseem opened the bowling for Gladiators but, defending 133, conceded four fours in a 19-run first over. Gladiators went on to lose inside 10 overs, the first time in PSL history a side has won by the halfway mark. This was Gladiators’ first match after PSL 2021’s restart in Abu Dhabi.

Ahmed Jamal, the Pakistan Customs fast bowler, has won a ‘King of Speed’ competition, a nationwide search to unearth new pace talent

Umar Farooq29-Apr-2013Ahmed Jamal, the Pakistan Customs fast bowler, has won a ‘King of Speed’ competition, a nationwide search to unearth new pace talent. His fastest delivery was clocked at 143kph and won him Rs 1 million in prize money.Jamal, 24, is from Abbottabad in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 68 miles north of Islamabad. He took five wickets on first-class debut for Pakistan Customs in 2009, and has 127 wickets in 34 games.Jamal was one of four quicks selected for Wasim Akram’s camp from a countrywide talent hunt earlier this month. The others were Muhammad Imran from Karachi, who bowled 136 kph, and Faisalabad’s Abdul Ameer and Faisal Yaseen, who both bowled at 135kph.”I am thrilled and very happy,” Jamal said in Karachi. “My feet were on the ground before I won this and will remain on the ground after winning the prize as I want to make a name for myself. I had planned to spend this money, but I am not going to disclose it now.”Jamal was among 24 bowlers who were undergoing a 10-day training camp led by Wasim Akram. He said Shoaib Akhtar was his inspiration. “I was always inspired by Shoaib Akhtar who was very fast so I wanted to bowl like him.”At the camp, Akram worked with the country’s best fast bowlers, including members of the national team and some new talent. It was organized ahead of the Champions Trophy in England, amid growing concerns about the depth of Pakistan’s fast-bowling reserves. “These ten days are the best of my life,” Jamal said. “What I have learnt during these days are a big thing for me and I want to move from strength to strength.”Akram was optimistic about the future of fast bowling in Pakistan after the camp. “I am happy to see that we still have great fast bowling talent in Pakistan, we just need to find that talent and polish our youngsters,” he said. “Fast young bowlers like Ahmed Jamal are the future of this country; they can become part of our national team and take Pakistan cricket to new heights of glory.”It was a short camp and we will not stop here. I feel captain’s role is very important in grooming the fast bowlers, if a bowler is low on confidence then the captain can lift it by backing his bowler and that raises the confidence.”I am sure that [Mohammad] Irfan and Junaid [Khan] will improve with time,” Akram said. “Irfan is a rare talent and should be used properly and Junaid is also showing great improvement. I feel the boys showed great passion for learning and because of that my passion also increased. I think we have talent in pace department.”

Darren Sammy will become the 27th player to represent West Indies in 100 one-day matches when he takes the field against Pakistan on Tuesday.

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jul-2013Allrounder Darren Sammy will become the 27th player to represent West Indies in 100 one-day matches when he takes the field against Pakistan on Tuesday. On the eve of the second ODI, Sammy confessed to not having thought of such records when he started out, but considered it one of his best moments.”All I really wanted to do was represent the West Indies and give my all on every occasion out there on the field,” he said. “But I will approach it as any other game before, preparing myself both physically and mentally and make sure I am match-ready if selected, for tomorrow’s match. I see this as one of the highlight moments of my career”Having made his debut in 2004, Sammy has scored five half-centuries and has a top-score of 84 off 50 balls at No. 9 against Australia. He has taken 71 wickets at an economy rate of 4.56. His crowning achievement was leading West Indies to the 2012 World Twenty20 title by beating the hosts Sri Lanka in the final in Colombo.West Indies, however, are trailing 0-1 in the ongoing series against Pakistan, having suffered a 126-run defeat on Sunday. The hosts, after restricting Pakistan to 54 for 5 in 21 overs, collapsed spectacularly as Shahid Afridi plundered 76 runs off 55 balls and took 7 for 12.But Sammy, who had captained West Indies to a 2-2 draw against Australia and a 4-1 win against New Zealand in March and July 2012, believed that the team’s return to winning ways was just a matter of piecing together consistent performances.”We have been through times like this before, but someway and somehow we found a way to bounce back,” he said. “We had a good start from the spell Jason [Holder] gave us, but we did not capitalise on that and that is something we really got to improve on, which is driving home the advantage when we have teams in critical positions with our bowling.”Fast bowler Jason Holder, who wrecked Pakistan’s top order with figures of 10-4-13-4, echoed Sammy’s optimism.”Obviously we did not get the result we wanted but I think the guys will be looking to bounce back, while I will be looking to continue the same form by putting the Pakistanis under pressure early.”It was a good pitch to bowl on especially after it dried out. It spun in the second half and like I said, it is not a bad pitch. We just need to apply ourselves a bit more and get the runs.”Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi’s 120-run stand for the sixth wicket eventually took Pakistan to 224. In contrast, West Indies managed only two double-figure partnerships, one of which was for the ninth wicket between Sammy and Sunil Narine, when the match was already all but lost.

“More or less for me now it’s just about having fun and enjoying however many days I have playing international cricket”

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jun-2021″It was kind of a shock” for Jason Holder to be relieved from the West Indies Test captaincy, and while he admits to finding it difficult to transition from being the leader to an ordinary member of the team, he wants to focus more on his game, and be a sounding board for youngsters looking for guidance.”Yeah, it’s been difficult. I probably may not show it, but it has been difficult,” Holder told ESPNcricinfo in an interview a couple of days away from the start of West Indies’ first Test against South Africa in St Lucia. “For the last five-six years, I’ve been captaining West Indies, whether that be Test-match cricket or one-day cricket. So now being relieved of both captaincies, it has been a strange transition for me personally.”Related

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Kraigg Brathwaite led West Indies in Bangladesh when Holder, as well as a number of other regulars, opted out of the tour because of the Covid-19 situation around the world. West Indies swept the two-Test series, and when it was time to select the squad for the home series against Sri Lanka in March, the team kept faith in Brathwaite. Roger Harper, the lead selector, said at the time that Brathwaite’s role in shepherding the team successfully in the absence of many first-choice players in Bangladesh had played a big role in his appointment on a permanent basis.That meant Holder’s stint as captain, which had begun in October 2015, ended after 37 matches, which included 11 wins and 21 losses. It was a period in which he climbed to great heights as a player, piling on big hauls with the ball and even hitting a double-century with the bat. After 47 Tests, Holder has 123 wickets at an average of 27.41, 2253 runs at an average of 33.13, and the No. 1 spot in the ICC rankings for Test allrounders.Holder played the home series against Sri Lanka, in Antigua, and did well. In the first Test, there was a five-wicket haul (his eighth in Tests) and in the second, there were scores of 30 and 71* – both matches were drawn.”It was kind of a shock. Yeah, still lost for words in regards to that, but I am not dwelling on it. I don’t think it’s something I should dwell on, to be fair,” Holder said. “I am just trying to find ways to move on and transition back to just being a regular player. For me now, it’s about showing a bit more of my character, and being a lot more… I would say outspoken. I am relatively outspoken, but just expressing myself a little bit more and having fun.”I feel as though I have been really, really committed to West Indies cricket – I am still committed to West Indies cricket, but more or less for me now it’s just about having fun and enjoying however many days I have playing international cricket.”Holder is still only 29, and has spent most of his career at the highest level in leadership roles. Without that responsibility, Holder felt he would have to redesign his role in the team.”There is a lot less pressure, a lot less responsibility. It’s just about me now personally… I’m a 100% team man. So I’ll play my part to help the team and if there are other players who are seeking out advice or guidance, no doubt I’ll be here to give them that,” he said. “But it’s no longer a time where you’ve got to look to select teams, look at combinations… all these things have just gone through the window. So for me now, it’s just a little bit more detailed as to as to my preparation into myself, particularly, and not having to deal with the team aspect of it.”I guess my contributions now will be more so in small groups and one-on-one basis with the players. And team meetings obviously I’ll share my expertise, and give as much guidance as I possibly can, but I still think the captain has to be given his leeway to lead the team the way he wants to lead the team, and we’ve got to give him confidence and support that we can as the group.”The first West Indies vs South Africa Test starts on June 10, with the second set for a June 18 start at the same venue.