Holder warns Windies against complacency

West Indies captain Jason Holder believes that his team need to avoid complacency as they look to begin a long climb back up the Test rankings.

The West Indies are in eighth place on the rankings having ended a 19 month period without a win in Test cricket by beating Pakistan in Sharjah.

Holder has urged his side to stay hungry and to build on the Sharjah win.

The skipper said: “This is a very good group of guys. We’ve shown glimpses that we can compete, we’ve shown glimpses we have what it takes to compete at this level.

“For us, it’s just a matter of consistency. We mustn’t get complacent. We have no reason to be complacent. One Test victory, by all means, is not enough. It’s a situation where we have to stay hungry, and that’s something I really believe we have in the group.

“Everybody is young, everybody is looking to make their mark on the international circuit, so everybody is hungry for success. And one thing I really enjoy in this dressing room is that everybody is happy for each other’s success.

“It’s just a situation where I think we need to stay together. We need to be given some time together as a group to gel, to understand one another, to play some good solid cricket.

“We’ve definitely shown it here. We’ve competed against India (earlier this year), we had a good last few Test matches in Australia (last year), so it’s a situation where we need to string together consistent performances over an extended period of time.”

The skipper expressed a belief that with this talented group of players the West Indies could return to a place among Test cricket’s best teams.

Holder went on: “I have no doubt we will get back on the right track in order to take West Indies cricket back up to the top.

“If I could sum up my feelings right now in one word, I’d just say ‘proud’ – proud of the character which the guys showed, proud of the fight they showed on the back of a lot of criticism here and there.”

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