West-Indies skipper Jason Holder has said that he knows where Australia’s big weakness is, where everyone knows it is: their middle-order has not had much of a chance to cement their place in the Aussie side, and that is, if one thinks about it, probably the only place where they maybe can be competitive.
He aims to target guys like Shaun Marsh, who has recently been recalled after a brief gap, and the likes, and he has rightfully pointed out that if they get through the likes, they have a chance to put Australia under pressure, especially those who has been in “rich veins of form”.
Holder keenly observed the series that now ended in favour of the Aussies, some more confidence by winning at home which can settle matters before it has even begun, and said that the only way his side can have any chance, is to play more aggressively, something that he has identified as the way to go forward and match an Australian side that has had no peers in the last while.
“We don’t come with just some belief; we come with a lot of belief”, Holder began. “If we don’t believe, there’s no point being here. We have to play aggressive cricket, we have to play smart cricket. The Australians are the No.2-ranked side in the world. They will come at us pretty hard, as we saw in the Caribbean.
“[In the Australia-New Zealand series] We saw weaknesses where we can exploit. There’s some new faces, mixed with some guys who have been in rich veins of form. It’s important that we put some pressure on their middle order.
“If we get early wickets with the new ball, we can get guys like Shaun Marsh, guys who are trying to make their way back into this side, put them under some pressure to score. Once we can do that it should be a relatively competitive series. They have some in-form batsmen, David Warner and Steve Smith, so it’s just important that we put some pressure on their middle order.”
Holder believes his side can make something happen out of nothing by extracting movement, even on the same sort of dead pitches like the ones in the first two matches versus the Kiwis, although it can be said that the newly-appointed captain’s team can’t do so the same as the Australians, something that even he must admit.
“Not only do we have the pace, we have bowlers with the skill to extract movement,” Holder said. “I saw in the first two Test matches there were some pretty flat pitches and the ball didn’t do much. The Australian batsmen and the New Zealand batsmen were able to capitalise.
“One of the crucial things in this series will be to extract some movement. I saw what movement did in this last Test match with New Zealand and Australia, with both sides being a bit at fault and being caught out. It’s important our bowlers look to do something with the ball.”
Holder also admitted the hosts have become a “very good side playing at home”; the golden rule is always to go out and just play so well as you can without getting intimidated, something that he said is key, and while he surely does not really expect to win, he is the way forward for the Indies…regardless of the series result.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges,” Holder concluded. “They’re a very good side playing at home, it’s just important that we learn as quickly as possible and not be intimidated by their bowlers, just be confident. If we make improvements then I’ll be quite happy at the end of the series.”