Holder, who is the West Indies captain, is on 473 points ahead of Stokes, who’ll be England’s stand-in skipper for the opening Test, on 407 points.
Despite holding top position, Holder doesn’t get the accolades that Stokes has received in recent times, including being named the 2020 Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
The battle of the all-rounder captains is a key story line ahead of the three-match series but Holder wasn’t getting drawn into it when he spoke to the English press on Tuesday ahead of the season opener.
“I don’t like to get into these personal accolades or ICC rankings,” Holder said.
“Ben has always been talked up and quite rightfully so, hes a really good cricketer.
“But the rankings say that I’m the number one ranked all-rounder and maybe don’t get as much credit as probably I deserve. Who knows?
“I don’t get caught up with it to be honest. I am merely here to play cricket.
“It’s always a good battle when you face competitors like Stokesy.”
Meanwhile, there’s been plenty of discussion about the West Indies taking a knee in support of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement before play and Stokes said the England players would make a ‘gesture’ too, although he preferred to remain vague in fear of International Cricket Council imposition.
“There is going to be a gesture shown from us as a team in support of Black Lives Matter towards the equality in society throughout cricket and throughout sport,” Stokes said.
“We aren’t in any way, shape or form showing support towards any political matters on the movement. We are all about the equality through society and sport.”