ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

October 20, 2022

Jason Holder

Bellerive Oval

West Indies

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. I just have a couple of questions. First, congrats on the win the previous game. I just wanted to ask through the course of the second innings, it seemed like all of the players, especially the senior players were high on emotions, especially with every wicket falling down. Could you just talk us through that?

JASON HOLDER: Yeah, we were all pumped up for the game. We knew what was at stake and the importance of the match. For us, this is just a way of us driving ourselves into the right direction. We spoke a lot about attitude and it was important we brought the correct attitude into the game. Yeah, so it's just basically us just showing our passion and love that we brought through the years playing this sport, and yeah, it was important that we just brought the right energy towards the game yesterday.

Q. I just wanted to ask, it's been spoken about how the All-Star West Indies T20 team, the previous generation had their time and what they did achieve, and how this is a new generation that is coming up, and they have their own goals and their own superstars on the current West Indies team and what this team could achieve. Would you just talk about that particular aspect, how this is a young team which is just coming up and the kind of importance it has and what it could achieve going forward in this particular format.

JASON HOLDER: Yeah, I think when it particularly comes to World Cups, you see different personnel every time. Maybe sometimes the nucleus of the squad will remain the same, but more or less you see fresh faces every time.

The teams which would have won in 2012 and '16 were pretty dominant. They had some very big T20 players when you look at that in the context of world cricket.

In this current team we've got some young budding stars who have really established themselves on the circuit, and it's just for us now to be a lot more senior, I guess, or spend a bit more time on the international circuit and doing some of the things.

When you look around the dressing room, we've got a pretty young team, and most of the guys are in their early to mid 20s, and it's a great side for West Indies cricket.

I think my point was just mainly us rebuilding and rejigging our T20 mantra, for lack of a better phrase, and trying to now reestablish ourselves as a new West Indies look T20 side.

Q. This morning for me, yesterday evening for you, Alzarri Joseph referred to you as the father figure of the team. Of course he would have been someone who would have made his international career under you when you were the captain. Give me your thoughts on Alzarri Joseph and how he has become much better than he was. Give me your thoughts on Alzarri Joseph.

JASON HOLDER: I think, first of all, Alzarri should be proud of his progression. I see him as a leader. I think he's leading this attack at his young age and he's showing his great attributes as a leader. His performances don't surprise me because of the work he's put in, his discipline, his dedication towards the cause and his businessman-like attitude is just really great to see for a young player.

Yesterday I told him just to lead it, and those were my simple words to him: Just lead the attack. Lead it, start us or get us onto that right page, and he did that. Got us the first breakthrough, and I think from there really set the tone.

I see him as an impact player. Obviously he's got pace. He's got skill, as well, too.

When he puts ball in hand, I really expect big things from him. I think now he's really matured into an all-format bowler. He's one of our only all-format bowlers at the moment, and it's great to see his progression, and I think the sky's the limit for him, and I just hope he stays fit and healthy and that he can fulfill his dreams.

Q. Coming into tomorrow's game, how are you looking ahead against Ireland as you'll have won one match and lost one match. So if you finish 2 and 1 then you'll be placed along with India and Bangladesh, so how do you think ahead of the tournament, winning the next game tomorrow against Ireland? How are you looking at those things?

JASON HOLDER: Well, I think we still have to wait and see what happens in terms of the two games. Once we win, we can still finish first, depending on what happens in the other game. So it's hard to put a result on things without letting things transpire. We've got one solid game to play against Ireland, and that's what we intend to do. I think we've shown a lot of good attributes in the last game, and we brought a very, very good flavour and attitude.

I think we were so much more clear yesterday what we're looking to do, and it showed.

Looking forward to this game against Ireland. I think it's a big game, and we like big games, so I'm sure the guys are really up for it, and we're looking forward to winning this game solidly.

Q. Do you think West Indies are at the stage now where it's more about the fast bowlers than spinners because of the personnel you have at your disposal now?

JASON HOLDER: Yeah, I think when you look at us, we play one spinner, so that one spinner comes in when the captain sees fit, but it's clear to see that we've got a fast bowling base attack, and that's just what we've got at our resources. I think we've got good enough fast bowlers and the spinner that we played yesterday was exceptional.

Again, as I always speak about, the resources that we've got on the bench. We've got Yannic Cariah who's come into his own in international, for example, as another spinner, and then we've got Sheldon Cottrell on the bench, who's another fast bowling resource.

Look, I think that's just the dynamic of the personnel we have, and I think we've got all the tools here that we need to win this competition. For us, I think it's more about a mental challenge to us, just really staying in the moment, understanding each and every scenario, each and every battle that we may be faced with, and just executing.

I think once we continue to do that, the sky's the limit for this team.

Yeah, so basically that's just it, the personnel that we have, and we're very happy with the makeup of the squad.

Q. Jason, I think in the 17th or 18th over in the previous game, went for a bit of runs and the margin of the win came down a bit, especially with the weather forecast and then coming in to play, is there any concern about that, and could you have possibly squeezed a bit more of winning margin in the previous game?

JASON HOLDER: A win was 100 per cent on our minds. I think if we try to study net run rate and use other peripherals, it becomes a lot more complex. We've just got to control what we can, and that's to win cricket games. We win this game, we win our next game, and we're right in it.

I think when we look too far ahead sometimes we get caught up with other things around, and we miss sight of the actual task at hand.

I don't think we had net run rate on our minds last night. Last night was a really important game, and that was a must-win game for us.

To cross the line and be on the winning side was the goal, and I'm really proud of the way the guys went about it and happy that we got that win.