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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 13, 2019

Jason Holder

Southampton, England, UK

Q. Welcome to Southampton. This is the sunny bit of England by the way. This is the sunny south coast. I wanted to ask you first of all, how frustrating is this ongoing weather situation? And what is the fitness situation in terms of your team? Anything to report on those issues?
JASON HOLDER: Well, it is a little disappointing obviously not being able to play. Today was our last day to practice and as you can see with the weather we are not able to get outside. Again, it is beyond our control. With regards to injuries, we make our final determination tomorrow morning, just giving everybody the best chance to just recover well and be eligible for selection.

Q. I wonder to myself, will some of your players be especially keen to be hitting boundaries against Jofra Archer?
JASON HOLDER: (Smiling) It's an interesting question. Yeah, I'm sure he'll be there. It's something that has been talked up in the press, in the media, and we are looking forward to the challenge against England. I don't want to limit it to Jofra, but we are looking forward to this game against England.

Q. Can you give us an update on Andre Russell and his knee?
JASON HOLDER: Yes, he's progressed nicely over the last couple of days. He is just one of those guys where we give him as much time as he possibly needs, so it all boils down to how he wakes up tomorrow morning and feels.

Q. You talked about using him in short spells. Against Australia he bowled a five-over spell before he went off hobbling. Was that just a bit too long that spell?
JASON HOLDER: Probably (laughter). With hindsight, probably, it's probably a bit too long. Yeah, he was going well in that game. I kept asking him how he felt. He said, "One more, skip, one more, skip," so it is hard to deny him.

Q. We have just heard that Mark Wood is an injury doubt for tomorrow, he's got an issue with his ankle. He had a fantastic time against you over the winter. Is it good news if Mark Wood doesn't play?
JASON HOLDER: Well, you are giving me the news yourself. I'm not familiar, I wasn't aware that Mark was injured. But yeah, again, we are looking to play against England. It doesn't matter who England puts on the park. We have just got a role to play, we've got to beat England. It doesn't matter who we are playing against.

Q. Looking back on that series that we played over the winter. Chris Gayle had a phenomenal time out against England enjoyed batting against them. Is he looking forward to having another day out against them?
JASON HOLDER: We all are (laughter). We all definitely are. I'm sure Sheldon is looking to salute as well. We are looking forward to this situation. It's a very important game for us. Every game in this World Cup is very important, but having a washed-out game in the last encounter against South Africa, we are just looking forward to getting on the park and hopefully the weather stays away and we can get a good game.

Q. Will Sheldon have a nice, special salute for Trevor Bayliss?
JASON HOLDER: (Laughter) I don't think it will change, that's just Sheldon. I guess Trevor will just have learn to accept it (smiling).

Q. What have you made of what you have seen of Jofra Archer?
JASON HOLDER: I have seen Jofra over the years. He is obviously a Barbadian. He's grown up in Barbados playing cricket so what you see -- what I'm seeing of Jofra doesn't surprise me. He is one of those guys who has always had ability and talent. It is just unfortunate how things went in terms of his decision-making but he is a good talent.

Q. Would he make it into your team?
JASON HOLDER: He's English, so no (smiling).

Q. When you see Jofra tearing in to bowl in an England shirt, do you feel proud that he's performing that way on the international stage, or do you feel frustration?
JASON HOLDER: (Smiling) As I said before, he's English. It is something I can't control. So I'm not going to worry about it. I'm not going to get flustered over it. Our role in this World Cup is to play against England in this game tomorrow and our role is to beat England. I'm not going to get here and just narrow it down to Jofra, Chris Gayle or whoever else. West Indies is playing England tomorrow. West Indies would like to beat England tomorrow.

Q. It will obviously be a talking point because as you say you have grown up playing with him and against him now. But do you have any concerns about other players that might take the same route that he's taken?
JASON HOLDER: I don't think this is the forum now to be discussing it. As I said before, I want to keep it strictly towards the game tomorrow, West Indies versus England. And I think we want to cover all three departments in terms of batting, bowling and fielding.

We have gone really well with the ball so far, in taking new-ball wickets and bowling two teams out in the games we have played.

I think in terms of our fielding, we could definitely touch up there, but I think generally over the last couple of months, if you look at our fielding overall, we have improved a lot in this World Cup so far.

And as a batting unit, we just had a plan against Australia so if we get ourselves back into that situation, we just need to take a little bit more responsibility and take the game home.

Having said that, I wouldn't sit here now and discuss anything else as opposed to the game.

Q. What did you learn from playing against England in the winter? A 2-2 series draw, so you had the measure of them in a couple of games with you. Did you learn anything from maybe in terms of rotating strike for example? You have got the power hitters, but are there any things you can improve on to make sure you get the edge in this World Cup game?
JASON HOLDER: I think there's always room for improvement. As I said before, we can always take responsibility as batters to see games through, bat very deeply.

As I said before, we've always asked the top four batsmen to go down to the 45th over and give ourselves a chance and other guys support them.

And having said that, I think we have done a lot of great things over the last couple of weeks as well. As I said before, our bowling has been really good. You have seen young Oshane Thomas come alight, Sheldon, and practically all our bowlers have been putting up their hands and doing a fantastic job.

It is just for them to continue that, stay fit and healthy, and then for our batters to keep going. I just think it's the situation over a long period of time with this tournament, you have to keep your form going and you have to keep hungry for success and keep churning out runs, that is all I can ask for.

Q. Your team is massive. There is a lot of big guys in that team. Is that something that you use? Do you feel you can use that to your advantage in games? Not necessarily against England tomorrow. But generally, does that give you an advantage because you have that physical presence on the field?
JASON HOLDER: You mean a physical fight? (Laughter).

Q. Just in terms of getting in the opposition's faces and having that presence?
JASON HOLDER: I think the brand of cricket we have been playing so far in this World Cup, you know what to expect of West Indies now. For us, we are not going to back down from the challenge. Most of our guys are always up for the challenge and it is just a matter for us to be smart. And I don't think there is anything else to be said, just be smart and play the brand of cricket we want to play.

Q. You didn't win that many one-dayers between the World Cups and obviously you played really well against England and a lot of people were talking about you coming into this tournament. What's gone right over the last few months that maybe wasn't going right for you guys before then?
JASON HOLDER: We've been getting wickets. I think previously we haven't been getting wickets in the middle. We have always got wickets with the new ball. But previously we haven't been able to get wickets in the middle overs. And it's been talking point over the last couple of months in one-day cricket and now in this tournament we have been able to get wickets in the middle overs which has definitely broken the back of most teams.

I think if we continue in that vain, we will be a force to be reckoned with but we have to take it game by game. This game against England, as I said before, is a very, very important game and we have just got to dot all of our Is and cross the Ts.

Q. Does that mean specifically trying to attack more in those middle overs than you did over the last couple of years?
JASON HOLDER: I think all the teams have. I think we have now got the luxury of having some quick bowlers, some very, very aggressive bowlers as well. So you can tend to give up a few runs looking for wickets and I just think as a nation, you've got to get wickets. If you don't get wickets, you can be chasing a lot of runs.

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