ICC's One-Test Ban on Jason Holder is Ridiculous - Mike Atherton

Former England skipper Michael Atherton believes International Cricket Council’s ban of one Test match on Windies skipper Jason Holder is ridiculous. Holder was suspended for the third Test match at St Lucia for slow over-rate of his team. Meanwhile, Windies have already taken an impregnable 2-0 lead in the three-match series against England after winning the first two matches.

In fact, the Windies had played with four fast bowlers in the second Test match. Consequently, they were always going to race against time in order to finish their overs on time.

The second Test match finished inside three days.

“With four fast bowlers West Indies are always challenged to maintain the required rate and the captain, in ICC regulations, is held responsible,” Atherton wrote in his column for The Times. “It is a problematic issue because clearly, the authorities want to try to speed up play to offer spectators full value for money. Ask any spectator in St Lucia, though, and I imagine they would want to see Holder leading out his team.

Windies won the first Test match by a gargantuan margin of 381 runs and the hosts won the second Test match by 10 wickets. Meanwhile, Holder was suspended for second over-rate offense in the 12-month period.

“Nor would they have wanted to see Holder rush through some overs in Antigua, instead of bowling Shannon Gabriel or Kemar Roach, say, at the critical time in the match”.

Atherton believes England was not up to the mark in both the Test matches they lost. The tourists could not come up with a collective batting performance as they failed to touch the 200-run mark. Kraigg Brathwaite will now lead the Windies side.

Kraigg Brathwaite will lead the Windies.

“The bottom line is that England was not good enough to take the game into the fourth day and there were two days remaining in the match unused, which makes an over-rate ban seem ridiculous,” Atherton wrote. “Kraigg Brathwaite will captain instead, and West Indies must find a way to rebalance their team. ICC officialdom may want to tread warily in St Lucia.”

Meanwhile, South Africa’s skipper Faf du Plessis was also banned for the third Test match against Pakistan for maintaining the slow over-rate in the second Test.

On the other hand, former Australian opener Mark Waugh also shared his thoughts on Holder’s ban. Waugh believes as the Test match got completed inside three days, the number one Test all-rounder didn’t get a chance to better his team’s over-rate.

“The problem is I guess is because the test finished so early Jason Holder didn’t get a chance to drag back the overrate with a few cheap overs from the spinners,” Waugh post read.

The problem is I guess is because the test finished so early Jason Holder didn’t get a chance to drag back the overrate with a few cheap overs from the spinners.

— Mark Waugh (@juniorwaugh349) February 4, 2019