Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
A little while ago, in the process of a lengthy project, I was required to look-up the story of this man. I wonder how many CWers, until this post, had a) heard of Holford and b) knew much if anything about him. For those who don't and are interested, it's really one of the most amazing stories of a last-minute piece of fulfillment.
Holford is Garry Sobers' cousin, a wristspinner and right-handed lower-order batsman, and he debuted in the 1966 series in England, where he played a crucial part in saving the Second Test, along with his cousin, by scoring a second-innings unbeaten century. He then lost his place thanks to someone else being injured (for comparison, see Jaques, Philip and how he lost his place to Simon Katich thanks to Matthew Hayden's injury), before falling victim to pleurisy. For 4 years 1968-1972 he was a moderate member of a side which barely won a thing, then he was dropped just as West Indies begun to embark on some success again in the early-1970s.
Aged nearly 36 in 1976 he was recalled (at that stage he had played 21 Tests for a bowling average of 44.35 and a batting one of 24.68) for what turned-out to be the Test which marked the start of West Indies' invincible era. He took 5-23 in the first-innings of that Test and thus could be said to be the man who moved the first pawn in a great and glorious game (his best figures up to that point were 4-55). This meant he played the following game, but after an ineffective match he was again dropped. But he was recalled once more in 1977, for the crucial final Test against Pakistan, with the series poised on a knife-edge at one-one, and his 37th birthday came on the second day of the match. In the match he took 5-109, but West Indies might still have lost (and thus, just conceivably, had their momentum stalled by a two-one home defeat) but for Holford's second-innings 37 - when he came in, West Indies led by 351, and Pakistan eventually made 301 in their second dig.
But for these two recalls, at an age when most are finished, Holford would essentially have gone down as someone who did something of real note once in 64 opportunities. As it finished-up, he made an important contribution to the embryonic stages of one of the most golden eras in cricket. I wouldn't imagine anyone else who endured such a moderate majority of career could claim that.
Holford is Garry Sobers' cousin, a wristspinner and right-handed lower-order batsman, and he debuted in the 1966 series in England, where he played a crucial part in saving the Second Test, along with his cousin, by scoring a second-innings unbeaten century. He then lost his place thanks to someone else being injured (for comparison, see Jaques, Philip and how he lost his place to Simon Katich thanks to Matthew Hayden's injury), before falling victim to pleurisy. For 4 years 1968-1972 he was a moderate member of a side which barely won a thing, then he was dropped just as West Indies begun to embark on some success again in the early-1970s.
Aged nearly 36 in 1976 he was recalled (at that stage he had played 21 Tests for a bowling average of 44.35 and a batting one of 24.68) for what turned-out to be the Test which marked the start of West Indies' invincible era. He took 5-23 in the first-innings of that Test and thus could be said to be the man who moved the first pawn in a great and glorious game (his best figures up to that point were 4-55). This meant he played the following game, but after an ineffective match he was again dropped. But he was recalled once more in 1977, for the crucial final Test against Pakistan, with the series poised on a knife-edge at one-one, and his 37th birthday came on the second day of the match. In the match he took 5-109, but West Indies might still have lost (and thus, just conceivably, had their momentum stalled by a two-one home defeat) but for Holford's second-innings 37 - when he came in, West Indies led by 351, and Pakistan eventually made 301 in their second dig.
But for these two recalls, at an age when most are finished, Holford would essentially have gone down as someone who did something of real note once in 64 opportunities. As it finished-up, he made an important contribution to the embryonic stages of one of the most golden eras in cricket. I wouldn't imagine anyone else who endured such a moderate majority of career could claim that.