Which former West Indian fast bowler was known as 'Whispering Death'?
TagMe Search
West_Indies_cricket_team.txt Michael_Holding.txt
West Indies cricket team Michael Holding
The West Indies cricket team, also known colloquially as the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing the West Indies Cricket Board, a confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.

From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, the West Indies team was one of the strongest in the world in both Test and One Day International cricket. A number of cricketers considered among the best in the world have hailed from the West Indies: Sir Garfield Sobers, Lance Gibbs, Gordon Greenidge, George Headley, Brian Lara, Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall, Sir Andy Roberts, Alvin Kallicharran, Rohan Kanhai, Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Clyde Walcott, Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Curtly Ambrose, Michael Holding, Courtney Walsh, Joel Garner and Sir Viv Richards have all been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. 

The West Indies have won the ICC Cricket World Cup twice, in 1975 and 1979, the ICC World Twenty20 twice, in 2012 and 2016, the ICC Champions Trophy once, in 2004, the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup once, in 2016, and were runners-up in the Cricket World Cup in 1983 and Under 19 Cricket World Cup in 2004. The West Indies were the first team to win back-to-back World Cups (1975 and 1979), and appeared in three consecutive World Cup finals (1975, 1979 and 1983).

As of 3 March 2016, the West Indian cricket team is ranked eighth in Tests, ninth in ODIs and second in T20Is by the ICC.

West Indies has hosted the 2007 Cricket World Cup and the 2010 ICC World Twenty20.

Member states and dependencies 

The current side represents:

* Sovereign states
**Antigua and BarbudaL
**Barbados
**DominicaW
**GrenadaW
**Guyana
**Jamaica
**Saint LuciaW
**Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesW
**Trinidad and Tobago
** Parts of Saint Kitts and NevisSaint Kitts and Nevis are separately represented in the Leeward Islands Cricket Association.
***Saint KittsL
***NevisL
*British dependenciesBritish Overseas Territories.
**AnguillaL
**MontserratL
**British Virgin IslandsL
* Dutch dependencyConstituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and part of the Dutch Caribbean.
**Sint MaartenL
* US dependencyUnincorporated organized territory of the United States.
**US Virgin IslandsL
; Legends

L = Participant of the Leeward Islands team and member of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association
W = Participant of the Windward Islands team and member of the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control

; Notes

Affiliates in West Indies Cricket Board 

The West Indies Cricket Board, the governing body of the team, consists of the six cricket associations of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Leeward Islands and Windward Islands. The Leeward Islands Cricket Association consists of associations of one sovereign state (Antigua and Barbuda), the two entities of Saint Kitts and Nevis, three British Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Montserrat and British Virgin Islands) and two other dependencies (US Virgin Islands and Sint Maarten). The Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control consists of associations of four sovereign states (Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines).

Currently, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands, other historical parts of the former West Indies Federation and now British Overseas Territories, have their own teams.

National teams also exist for the various islands, which, as they are all separate countries, very much keep their local identities and support their local favourites. These national teams take part in the West Indian first-class competition, the Carib Beer Cup (earlier known as the Busta Cup, Shell Shield and various other names).  It is also common for other international teams to play the island teams for warm-up games before they take on the combined West Indies team.

The official population number for those countries and dependencies is estimated to around 6 million, which is larger than Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.

The member association of WICB are:
* Barbados Cricket Association (BCA)
* Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)
* Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA)
* Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB)
* Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA); itself composed of:
**Anguilla Cricket Association
**Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association
**British Virgin Islands Cricket Association
**Montserrat Cricket Association
**Nevis Cricket Association (for the island of Nevis alone)
**St. Kitts Cricket Association (for the island of St. Kitts alone)
**St. Maarten Cricket Association (for the constituent country of the Netherlands, Sint Maarten)
**United States Virgin Islands Cricket Association
*Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control (WICBC); itself composed of:
**Dominica Cricket Association
**Grenada Cricket Association
**St. Lucia Cricket Association
**St. Vincent & the Grenadines Cricket Association

Potential future members

* Saint Martin (for the French part of St. Maarten alone), affiliate of Leeward Islands Cricket Association
* Saba (for Saba Island, dependency of Netherlands), affiliate of Leeward Islands Cricket Association
* Sint Eustatius (for Sint Eustatius Island, dependency of Netherlands), affiliate of Leeward Islands Cricket Association
* Saint Barthélemy (for Saint Barthélemy Island, dependency of France), affiliate of Leeward Islands Cricket Association
* Guadeloupe (for Guadeloupe, dependency of France), affiliate of Leeward Islands Cricket Association
* Martinique (for Martinique, dependency of France), affiliate of Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control

History

The history of the West Indies cricket team began in the 1890s, when the first representative sides were selected to play visiting English sides. The WICB joined the sport's international ruling body, the Imperial Cricket Conference, in 1926,  and played their first official international match, granted Test status, in 1928,  thus becoming the fourth Test nation. In their early days in the 1930s, the side represented the British colonies that would later form the West Indies Federation plus British Guiana.

The last series the West Indies played before the outbreak of the Second World War was against England in 1939. There followed a hiatus that lasted until January 1948 when the MCC toured the West Indies.  Of the West Indies players in that first match after the war only Gerry Gomez, George Headley, Jeffrey Stollmeyer, and Foffie Williams had previously played Test cricket.  In 1948, leg spinner Wilfred Ferguson became the first West Indian bowler to take ten wickets in a Test, finishing with 11/229 in a match against England;  later that same year Hines Johnson became the first West Indies fast bowler to achieve the feat, managing 10/96 against the same opponents.  Although blessed with some great players in their early days as a Test nation, and beating England for the first time at Lord's on 29 June 1950, their successes remained sporadic until the 1960s when the side changed from a white-dominated to a black-dominated side. By the 1970s, the West Indies had a side recognised as unofficial world champions, a reputation they retained throughout the 1980s.  During these glory years, the West Indies were noted for their four-man fast bowling attack, backed up by some of the best batsmen in the world. In 1976, fast bowler Michael Holding took 14/149 in a Test against England, setting a record which still stands for best bowling figures in a Test by a West Indies bowler.  

The 1980s saw the team set a then-record streak of 11 consecutive Test victories in 1984 and inflict two 5–0 "blackwashes" against the old enemy of England. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, however, West Indian cricket declined, largely owing to the failure of the West Indian Cricket Board to move the game from an amateur pastime to a professional sport, coupled with the general economic decline in West Indian countries, and the team is struggling to regain its past glory. Victory in the 2004 Champions Trophy and a runner-up showing in the 2006 Champions Trophy left some hopeful, but it was not until the inception of Twenty20 cricket that the West Indies began to regain a place among cricketing elite and among cricket fans, as they developed ranks of players capable of taking over games with their power hitting, including Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Andre Russell and Carlos Brathwaite. They beat Australia and then host Sri Lanka in the 2012 World Twenty20 to win their first ICC world championship since the 1979 World Cup and then bested England to win the 2016 World Twenty20, making them the first team to win the World Twenty20 twice. As an added bonus, the West Indies also became the first to win both the men's and women's World Twenty20 on the same day, as the women's team beat three-time defending champion Australia for their first ICC world title immediately beforehand.

Cricket after ICC World Cup 2015

West Indies would not play a One Day International after World Cup 2015 until after 30 September, which caused them to be eliminated from the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. A scheduled Triangular series with Zimbabwe and Pakistan was cancelled after the Pakistan Cricket Board refused to risk their hard-earned spot in the same competition. West Indies' first game after World Cup was against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka whitewashed West Indies in both Test and ODI series as 2-0 and 3-0 respectively, which cause them to fall down the rankings. But in 2-match T20 series, West Indies were able to draw it by winning the last match of the tour. With this win, West Indies moved higher in T20I team rankings up to third place and entered the 2016 World T20 final against England in second place behind only India.

Flag and anthem

Most cricketing nations use their own national flags for cricketing purposes. However, as the West Indies represent a number of independent states and dependencies, there is no natural choice of flag. The WICB has, therefore, developed an insignia showing a palm tree and cricket stumps on a small sunny island (see the top of this article). The insignia, on a maroon background, makes up the West Indian flag. The background sometimes has a white stripe above a green stripe, which is separated by a maroon stripe, passing horizontally through the middle of the background.  Prior to 1999, the WICB(C) had used a similar insignia featuring a cabbage palm tree and an island, but there were no stumps and, instead of the sun, there was the constellation Orion. It was designed in 1923 by Sir Algernon Aspinall, then Secretary of the West India Committee.  Around the same time in the 1920s the suggested motto for the West Indies team was "Nec curat Orion leones", which comes from a quote by Horace, meaning that Orion, as symbolical of the West Indies XI, does not worry about the lions [of English cricket]. 

For ICC tournaments, "Rally Round the West Indies" by David Rudder is used as the team's anthem.

Venues

The following eleven stadia have been used for at least one Test match.  The number of Tests played at each venue followed by the number of One Day Internationals and twenty20 internationals played at that venue is in brackets as of 11 July 2011:

;Queen's Park Oval - Port of Spain, Trinidad (58/61/3)
The Queen's Park Oval has hosted more Test matches than any other ground in the Caribbean and first hosted a Test match in 1930. The ground is considered one of the most picturesque venues in the world of cricket, featuring the view Trinidad's Northern Range. It has a capacity of over 18,000.
;Kensington Oval - Bridgetown, Barbados (48/30/13)
Kensington Oval hosted the region's first Test match in 1930 and is recognised as the 'Mecca' of West Indies cricket. It also played host to the first-ever Test triple century, Andy Sandham's 325. Its capacity was increased from 15,000 to 28,000 for the 2007 World Cup and down to its current capacity of 11,000 post - World Cup. It has hosted two ICC world finals - the 2007 Cricket World Cup Final, which Australia won over Sri Lanka, and the 2010 World Twenty20 Final, which England won against Australia.
;Bourda - Georgetown, Guyana (30/11/0)
Bourda first hosted a Test match in 1930. It was the only Test ground in South America (until the use of Providence), and the only one below sea level and with its own moat (to prevent the pitch from frequent flooding). It has a capacity of around 22,000. It is remembered for the Pitch Invasion during a April 1999, One Day International between Australia and the West Indies, with Australia needing 3 runs to tie and 4 to win off the last ball, a full scale pitch invasion, resulted in the match being deemed a tie, due to the stumps having been stolen before the West Indian team could effect a run out. 
;Sabina Park - Kingston, Jamaica (45/33/0)
Sabina Park first hosted a Test match in 1930. The Blue Mountains, which are famed for their coffee, form the backdrop. Sabina Park played host to Garry Sobers' then world-record 365 not out. In 1998, the Test against England was abandoned here on the opening day because the pitch was too dangerous. It has a capacity of 15,000.
;Antigua Recreation Ground - St John's, Antigua (22/11/0)
Antigua Recreation Ground first hosted a Test in 1981. Three Test triple centuries have been scored on this ground: Chris Gayle's 317 in 2005, and Brian Lara's world record scores of 375 in 1994 and 400 not out in 2004. The historic stadium was removed from the roster of grounds hosting international matches in June 2006, to make way for the island's new cricket stadium, being constructed 3 miles outside the capital city expected to be completed in time for its hosting of matches for Cricket World Cup 2007. However, after the abandoned Test match between England and the West Indies in February 2009 at the new North Sound ground, Test cricket returned to the ARG.
;Arnos Vale - Arnos Vale, Kingstown, St Vincent (2/23/0)
The Arnos Vale Ground a.k.a. The Playing Fields first hosted a Test in 1997.
;National Cricket Stadium - St George's, Grenada (2/16/0)
Queen's Park, Grenada first hosted a Test in 2002.
;Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium - Gros Islet, St Lucia (3/23/12)
Originally the Beauséjour Cricket Ground, first hosted a Test in 2003. It has a capacity of 12,000. This was the first stadium in the Caribbean to host a day-night cricket match. The match was between the West Indies and Zimbabwe. New Zealand was scheduled to play a test in 2014 to mark the return to Test cricket after a break of 8 years. Following the West Indies' victory in the 2016 World Twenty20, the St. Lucian government renamed the venue after captain Sammy, a native St. Lucian, with another St. Lucian - Johnson Charles - having a stand named in his honor after also being part of the 2012 and 2016 championship squads.
;Warner Park Stadium - Basseterre, St Kitts (3/13/1)
The Warner Park Sporting Complex hosted its first One Day International on 23 May 2006 and its first Test match on 22 June 2006. The stadium has a permanent capacity of 8,000, with provisions for temporary stands to enable the hosting figure to past 10,000.
;Providence Stadium - Georgetown, Guyana (2/11/6)
The Providence Stadium hosted its first One Day International on 28 March 2007 for the 2007 Cricket World Cup and its first Test match on 22 March 2008. The stadium has a permanent capacity of 15,000, and is to host Test cricket instead of Bourda.
;Sir Vivian Richards Stadium - North Sound, Antigua (3/10/2)
The Sir Viv Richards Stadium hosted its first One Day International on 27 March 2007 for the 2007 Cricket World Cup and its first Test match on 30 May 2008. The stadium has a permanent capacity of 10,000, and is to host Test cricket instead of the Antigua Recreation Ground.
;Windsor Park Stadium - Roseau, Dominica (2/4/0)
Windsor Park is another major cricket ground in the West Indies and home venue for the West Indian team. Construction first started on it in 2005, and it finally opened in October 2007, too late to serve as a venue for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It hosts first-class cricket and hosted its first test on 6 July 2011 against India, however it held its first One Day International on 26 July 2009. It has a seating capacity of 12,000.

Three further stadia have been used for One Day Internationals,  but not Test matches. The number of One Day Internationals played at each venue is in brackets:

*Albion Sports Complex in Albion, Berbice, Guyana (5)
*Mindoo Philip Park in Castries, St Lucia (2)
*The old ground of Queen's Park in St George's, Grenada (1)

Clothing

When playing one-day cricket, the Windies wear a maroon-coloured shirt and trousers. The shirt also sports the logo of the West Indian Cricket Board and the name of their sponsors, at present, Digicel. The one-day cap is maroon with the WICB logo on the left of the front, with two yellow stripes.

When playing first-class cricket, in addition to their cricket flannels West Indian fielders sometimes wear a maroon sunhat with a wide brim. The WICB logo is on the front of the hat. Helmets are coloured similarly.

During World Series Cricket, coloured uniforms were adopted. The initial West Indies uniform was pink and was later changed to maroon to match their Test match caps. Grey was also added as a secondary colour. In some of their uniforms grey has been dominant over the traditional maroon.

West Indian women's cricket team

The West Indian women's cricket team has a much lower profile than the men's team. They played 11 Test matches between 1975–76 and 1979, winning once, losing three times, and drawing the other games. Since then, they have only played one further Test match, a draw game against Pakistan in 2003–04.  They also have an infrequent record in One Day Internationals. A team from Trinidad and Tobago and a team from Jamaica played in the first women's World Cup in 1973, with both sides faring poorly, finishing fifth and sixth respectively out of a field of seven.  The Windies united as a team to play their first ODI in 1979, but thereafter did not play until the 1993 World Cup. The side has never been one of the leading sides in the world, however, with their main success being achieving second place in the International Women's Cricket Council Trophy, a competition for the second tier of women's national cricket teams, in 2003. They finished in fifth place in the most recent World Cup, which was held in 2004–05. Their overall record in one-dayers is to have played 45, won 17, lost 27 with one no result. 

Because of the women's side's relatively low profile, there are few well-known names in the game. The most notable is probably Nadine George, a wicket-keeper/batsman, who became the first, and to date only, West Indian woman to score a Test century, in Karachi, Pakistan in 2003–04. George is a prominent supporter of sport in the West Indies, and in particular, in her native St Lucia, and in 2005 was made an MBE by HRH The Prince of Wales for services to sport. 

2016 saw the West Indian women win their first ICC world championship - the 2016 Women's World Twenty20, after beating three-time defending champion Australia by eight wickets at Eden Gardens with members of the men's team in the crowd to support.

Tournament history

A red box around the year indicates tournaments played within West Indies

ICC Cricket World Cup

ICC World Twenty20

ICC Champions Trophy

Known as the "ICC Knockout" in 1998 and 2000.

World Championship of Cricket

1985: Third place stand
1988: Quarter final 
2016: Winners.

Honours

Cricket World Cup (2): 1975 , 1979

ICC World Twenty20 (2): 2012 , 2016 

ICC Champions Trophy (1): 2004

Statistics and records

; Innings totals above 700
For: 790 for 3 declared against Pakistan in Kingston in 1957–58; 751 for 5 declared against England in St John's in 2003–04; 747 all out against South Africa in St John's in 2004–05; 749 for 9 declared against England in Bridgetown in 2008–2009
Against: 849 by England in Kingston in 1929–30; 758 for 8 declared by Australia in Kingston in 1954–55

; Innings totals below 60
For: 47 against England in Kingston in 2003–04; 51 against Australia in Port of Spain in 1998–99; 53 against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 1986–87; 54 against England at Lord's in 2000
Against: 46 by England in Port of Spain in 1993–94; 51 by England in Kingston in 2008–09

; Triple centuries scored for the Windies
400 not out by Brian Lara against England at St John's in 2003–04; 375 by Brian Lara against England at St John's in 1993–94; 365 not out by Garry Sobers against Pakistan at Kingston in 1957–58; 333 by Chris Gayle against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2010–11; 317 by Chris Gayle against South Africa at St John's in 2004–05; 302 by Lawrence Rowe against England at Bridgetown in 1973–74

; Twelve or more wickets were taken for the Windies in a Test match
14 for the cost of 149 runs by Michael Holding against England at the Oval in 1976; 13 for 55 by Courtney Walsh against New Zealand in Wellington in 1994–95; 12 for 121 by Andy Roberts against India in Madras in 1974–75

;Hat-Tricks
Wes Hall against Pakistan in 1959; Lance Gibbs against Australia in 1961; Courtney Walsh against Australia in 1988; and Jermaine Lawson against Australia in 2003

One day matches

;Hat-trick
An ODI hat-trick performance was made by Jerome Taylor on 19 October 2006 at Mumbai in an ICC Champions Trophy league match against Australia. 

At the ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup, Kemar Roach became the sixth bowler to claim a World Cup hat-trick against the Netherlands.

Test captains

The following men have captained the West Indian cricket team in at least one Test match:

Squad

This lists all the players who have played for West Indies in the past year and the forms in which they have played. 
Correct as of 21 July 2016, where Jerome Taylor announced retirement from Test Cricket. 

Coaching staff

* Head Coach: Phil Simmons
* Assistant Coach: Stuart Williams
* Assistant Coach: Andre Coley
* Bowling Coach: Roderick Estwick 
* Interim Operations Team Manager: Rawl Lewis 
* Physio: CJ Clarke
* Strength and Conditioning Coach: Ronald Rogers
* Performance Analyst: Dexter Augustus
* Trainer: Hector Martinez
* Therapist: Virgil Browne
* Media Manager: Philip Spooner Michael Anthony Holding (born 16 February 1954) is a former West Indian cricketer. One of the fastest bowlers ever to play Test cricket, he was nicknamed "Whispering Death" by umpires due to his quiet approach to the bowling crease. His bowling was smooth and very fast, and he used his height (6 ft) to generate large amounts of bounce and zip off the pitch. He was part of the fearsome West Indian pace battery, together with Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Sylvester Clarke, Colin Croft, Wayne Daniel and the late Malcolm Marshall that devastated batting line-ups throughout the world in the seventies and early eighties. Early in his Test career, in 1976, Holding broke the record for best bowling figures in a Test match by a West Indies bowler, 14 wickets for 149 runs (14/149). The record still stands. During his first-class cricket career, Holding played for Jamaica, Canterbury, Derbyshire, Lancashire and Tasmania. In June 1988 Holding was celebrated on the $2 Jamaican stamp alongside the Barbados Cricket Buckle.

Early life

Michael Holding was born on 16 February 1954, the youngest of four children to Ralph and Enid Holding who lived in Kingston. The family was passionate about sport, and only a few days after Michael was born his father enrolled him as a member of Melbourne Cricket Club at Kingston. At the age of three he was diagnosed with asthma, but by his early teenage years he no longer needed an inhaler. He led an active life, playing sport in the scrubland and wooded areas near his home. Though his family would often watch the cricket at Sabina Park, Holding preferred to play Catchy Shubby Cricket than watch. 

Cricketing career

Early career

In late 1975 the West Indies team embarked on a six-Test tour of Australia. Earlier that year the West Indies had defeated Australia in the final of the inaugural World Cup, and the teams were considered to be the best of their day.  Fast bowler Bernard Julien was out of form and his place in the team was given to debutant Michael Holding who opened the bowling with Andy Roberts.  He picked up a groin strain in the second Test and bowled as fast as 97 mph, quicker than Jeff Thomson, Australia's fastest bowler.  According to Wisden in his debut series, Holding "had shown himself to be Roberts' natural opening partner and indeed was timed to be faster than [Jeff] Thomson, [Dennis] Lillee and Roberts", and considered that when West Indies captain Clive Lloyd chose to give Julien the new ball rather than Holding it was a mistake that cost the West Indies the match. Australia won the series 5–1, and though Holding's 10 wickets in 5 matches cost on average more than 60 runs each, Wisden believed that he had performed well enough to establish himself in the side and had the potential to bowl faster still. 

India visited the West Indies in March for a four-Test series. The defeat by Australia had left Andy Roberts exhausted, so he was rested for the matches against India and Holding took over as leader of the West Indies bowling attack. He finished as his team's leading wicket taker (second in the series to Indian leg spinner B. S. Chandrasekhar) with 19 wickets at less than 20 runs each and helped his team to a 2–1 victory.  

The West Indies toured England in 1976, and though Holding was unknown in the country the British press picked up on his performance in Australia and there was a sense of anticipation about his bowling. An early psychological blow was landed by the West Indies in a warm up match against the Marylebone Cricket Club when Holding stuck Dennis Amiss on the head, leaving a wound that needed stitches. Amiss was a veteran player and likely to open for England in the forthcoming Tests and seeing him struggle against Holding's pace was a warning of things to come.  In the lead up to the series England captain Tony Greig was confident of his team's chances, saying in an interview "I like to think people are building these West Indians up, because I'm not really sure they're as good as everyone thinks. You must remember, that the West Indians, these guys, if they get on top they are magnificent cricketers. But if they're down, they grovel, and I intend, with the help of Closey [Brian Close] and a few others, to make them grovel."  The comments outraged the West Indians, and to the team the use of the term "grovel" in particular "smacked of racism and apartheid". 

The West Indies fast bowling attack consisted of Roberts, Holding, Wayne Daniel, and Vanburn Holder. The first three used the bouncer liberally (Wisden notes that Holding in particular bowled "exceptionally fast"), and England's John Edrich and Brian Close suffered in particular (Close was 45 when the series started in June, and Edrich turned 39 during the second Test). In the first innings of the fifth Test, played at the Oval, Holding took 8 wickets for 92 runs which remained the best bowling figures of his first-class career and were the best bowling figures by a West Indies bowler at the ground. He took a further 6 wickets in the match to finish with 14/149, which remain the best match figures by a West Indian in a Test match. The West Indies won the five match series 3–0. 

According to an urban myth, during a Test match between the West Indies and England when Holding was to bowl to English player Peter Willey, the commentator at the time, Brian Johnston, described the action as "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey" (a double entendre, as "willy" is British English slang for a penis). However Wisden states that there is no record of Johnston or anyone else actually saying this  (although a colleague of Johnston's, Henry Blofeld, recalls the incident occurring during a Test match at The Oval in 1976.)  In a limited-overs international between England and West Indies on 26 August 1976 at Scarborough, Michael Holding's return from long-leg deflected off the nearer wicket and scuttled along the pitch to break the far one with Graham Barlow and Alan Knott, on his only appearance as England's captain, stranded in mid-pitch. The dumbfounded umpires, David Constant and Arthur Jepson, rejected the run-out appeal for reasons that remain obscure. The West Indies played 26 first-class matches on the tour, winning 18 and losing just 2, making them the most successful side to tour England.

World Series Cricket

After the 1976 series against England, Holding enrolled at the University of the West Indies on a scholarship to study Computer Science. As a profession cricket did not pay well, so Holding was preparing himself for employment off the cricket pitch. A shoulder injury sustained towards the end of the 1976 tour of England prevented Holding from joining the West Indies squad to face Pakistan in March 1977. During the series Lloyd approached Holding about a joining a World XI team captained by England's Tony Greig to play against Australia in World Series Cricket; there was still animosity between Greig and the West Indies players over Greig's comments before the 1976 Test series in England. The series was the brainchild of Kerry Packer after his television channel, Channel 9, missed out on the rights to broadcast Australia's home Test series. Players would be paid more than they had been before, and with his earnings from the series Holding was able to buy his first car and later a house. When it became public the Australian Cricket Board and England Cricket Board threatened to ban players taking part. Packer responded to the pressure by signing the whole West Indies team to compete in the series alongside a World XI and an Australian team. Relegated to playing at football ground, the series suffered from poor crowds. The negative press surrounding the World Series – players were labelled mercenaries – bred a sense of camaraderie in the West Indies side, contributing to the team's dominance in the Test arena for years to come. 

In March 1978, after the first season of World Series Cricket, Australia embarked on a Test tour of the West Indies. Australia were severely depleted because the ACB refused to pick leading players such as Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, and Dennis Lillee  because they had played in the Packer series. Holding suffered a recurrence of his shoulder injury and so missed the series, but otherwise the West Indies began the series at full strength. Eventually external pressure on the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) not to select players who played in the World Series resulted in three players being dropped and Clive Lloyd's resignation as captain. The rest of the team refused to play in protest and were replaced by second-choice players. The second year of World Series Cricket was more successful than the first and matches were played in front of much larger crowds. Though contracted to last three years, the competition ended after two because Packer and the ACB came to an agreement regarding broadcasting rights.

West Indies rampant

A less amusing incident for which Holding is also remembered was kicking over the stumps in anger at an umpiring decision in New Zealand in 1979/80. The tour had gone poorly almost from the beginning: West Indies had just finished a long tour of Australia, and were perhaps resentful about having a tour to unglamorous New Zealand immediately afterwards (their leading batsman of the time, Viv Richards, refused to tour).  West Indies felt that the umpiring had been incompetent and against them throughout. After an appeal for caught behind was turned down, Holding turned and kicked the stumps in frustration.

Holding was the bowler in what is often described as "the greatest over in Test history", which he bowled in 1981 in Bridgetown to English batsman Geoff Boycott. The first five balls increased in pace, causing Boycott to have to react very rapidly to avoid being hit. The final ball saw Boycott clean bowled, to the great delight of the crowd. 

Holding opened the bowling with Andy Roberts in 33 Tests, and the pair claimed 216 wickets at an average of 25.27 runs each, making them one of the most successful new ball partnerships.  Despite modest batting talent, he holds the record for the most sixes in a Test career for any player with fewer than 1,000 career runs. He hit 36 sixes in his Test career, placing him at 32 in the all-time list. Remarkably almost a quarter of his Test runs came by way of sixes.

In 2009 Rudi Webster said "It is difficult to overestimate how much the players in [the West Indies team led by Clive Lloyd] were admired and idolised on the cricket field. And off the field they were loved and respected for the manner in which they conducted themselves and for the role they played as outstanding ambassadors."  The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations began a Hall of Fame in 1999 and Holding was inducted into it. The FICA Hall of Fame ended in 2003, but all the inductees were given official recognition when they were included in the ICC's Hall of Fame on its inauguration in 2009. 

Post-playing career

Holding has written two autobiographies the first of which, Whispering Death, was published in 1988 before he retired and the second, No Holding  Back, over 20 years later in 2010.  After retiring from cricket Holding ran a petrol station in Kingston called "Michael Holding's Service Centre", employing several people who were members of Melbourne Cricket Club of which he was a member. The business was initially successful, though Holding found it stressful. Broadcasting began to take up more of his time, and while he was away the petrol station suffered so in 1995 he decided to sell.  He also considered taking up umpiring, though not as a profession, and considered pursuing qualifications to umpire in domestic matches in Jamaica but his time was taken up with managing the petrol station and broadcasting. 

Broadcaster and ICC official

Holding's career evolved after his retirement from active play. He had never aspired to becoming a commentator but was friends with a producer at Radio Jamaica who invited him to comment on cricket. This led to him working around the Caribbean, but at this stage work was not regular enough to be his main source of income. Holding made his transition from radio commentator to television in 1990 when cricket in the Caribbean was broadcast on television around the world for the first time. Two local commentators were chosen and Holding was picked alongside Tony Cozier at the latter's recommendation.  He became a broadcaster as a member of the Sky Sports cricket commentary team, as well as being a semi-regular member of the Channel 9 cricket commentary team in Australia led by Richie Benaud.

The ICC created the Bowling Action Review Committee (BARC) in 1999, and on the recommendation of the WICB, Holding was one of the founding members of the committee. The role of the committee was to monitor players suspected of throwing using various video replays. The process of assessing a bowler’s action has since become more scientific with more technology used and though the committee disbanded in 2005 it was influential in the ICC establishing the 15 degree maximum for bowlers straightening their arms in delivery.  Even when working for the BARC, Holding was a strident critic of the ICC so in 2007 when he was approached to join the newly formed ICC cricket committee he thought a friend was playing a joke on him. Holding joined the committee and though he was initially optimistic quit in July 2008 in protest against the ICC's decision to overturn the result of the Oval Test between Pakistan and England, which was changed from a forfeit by Pakistan (who chose not to take the field in protest against being accused of ball tampering) to a draw. The forfeiture was later reinstated, and Holding resolved not to rejoin the committee.  

Holding has stated "I don't think [twenty20] is good for the game... It has its place but it will be bad unless those in charge manage it properly and I do not think they can because they are blinded by money. I can see Test cricket dying because of this." Despite this he was initially supportive of the Stanford 20/20. He believed the tournament funded by Allen Stanford could revitalise Caribbean cricket (the fortunes of the West Indies team declined from the 1990s onwards). However, with the conception of the Stanford Super Series involving the England Cricket Board in 2008 he became critical of the venture as he felt that funds which had previously been invested in domestic teams were no longer of interest to Stanford. 

Recognition for Services to Sport

On Thursday 9 May 2013, Michael Holding received an Honorary Degree and Life Time Achievement Award at the University of East London.

Notes
Michael Holding Mike Holding
michael holding mike holding
michael holding
WikipediaEntity
Michael Holding
 which former West Indian fast baller was known as whispering Dave. 

 I'm here to help answer which baller was known is a a private event or a a fictional or any one time and to indeed that been been more or mis a or the not legal or special to try and help clarify what you mean by Debbie mystery for past which is the someone or something more creates the seat of the story that fits