BARBADOS-born West Indies lanky fast bowler Jason Holder yesterday told a media briefing, he is looking for a repeat performance when the Regional team

take on Pakistan in the second One Day International of their five-match Digicel series at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
Weather permitting, the action will bowl off at 09:00hrs under the supervision of Nigel Llong and Peter Nero, with Joel Wilson and Paul Reifel executing the duties of third and fourth umpires, while former Australian middle order batsman David Boon is the match referee.
Former West Indies ODI skipper Darren Sammy is set to play his 100th ODI (if selected), while the home team will be looking to rebound from Sunday’s humiliating 126-run defeat and level the series, as they head to St Lucia for the final three matches.
The 21-year-old Holder had the impressive figures of 10-4-8-4, which broke the backbone of Pakistan’s top order batting, before Shahid Afridi settled his teammate’s nerves with a pugnacious 55-ball 76 that was decorated with six fours and five sixes, which guided his team to a match-winning 224 for 9.
However, both teams will be having an eye on the weather which prevented them from having a practice session at the venue yesterday, forcing them to stay indoors at the Pegasus Hotel, where Holder expressed his desires.
Holder said, “I am very pleased about the performance. Obviously we did not get the result we wanted but I think the guys will be looking to bounce back in the second match tomorrow (today), while I will be looking to continue the same form by putting the Pakistanis under pressure early.”
Holder said the pitch at the venue was great to bowl on, especially early in the day even though some balls went through nicely and some did not, but feels his teammates should have applied themselves a bit more.
“It is not a bad pitch, especially after it dried out. Once you find the ideal length, you would enjoy bowling on it. It spun in the second half and like I said, it is not a bad pitch. We just need to apply ourselves a bit more and get the runs.
“It is quite rare when such things happen.  At the beginning of the day, if someone had told me I would have such remarkable figures I would take it on any given day. It is just about me being consistent from here onwards and hopefully the team dong well,” said Holder.
He admitted learning a few things from Kemar Roach and Tino Best, along with the team’s coach Ottis Gibson, as he aims to be consistent with his line and length, while he expressed confidence in the team bouncing back in the second match today.
On the other hand, the 29-year-old Sammy, who was replaced as captain of the Windies before the commencement of last month’s ICC Champions Trophy, said thanks to God for bringing him this far in this format of the game, even though he has never visualised himself doing such when he started.
Referring to Sunday’s loss, Sammy said the territory is not a strange one since the Windies are accustomed to being in such positions, but felt they should have capitalised on the start they received from Holder and Roach, early in the Pakistani’s innings.
“God has blessed me with the talent and I give Him all credit to that. It is good to play games for the West Indies. Yes, it is a milestone for me, but I will approach it as any other game before, preparing myself both physically and mentally and make sure I am match-ready if selected, for tomorrow’s (today) match.
“We have been through times like this before, but someway and somehow we found a way to bounce back. If we are honest with ourselves as cricketers, we know where we all went wrong. It is about putting consistently, good performances on the cricket pitch.”
He added, “We had a good start from the spells Jason (Holder) and Roach give us, but we did not capitalise on that and that is something we really got to improve on, which is driving home the advantage when we have teams in critical positions, with our bowling.
As a batting unit, we got to pull our socks up and play accordingly. You saw where Pakistan moved from and where they ended up against us and we have the talent and ability with the players in the dressing room to play way better than how we are playing now.”
Sammy ruled out any signs of complacency in Sunday’s mediocre batting performance from the Regional side, who slipped to 55 for 8, before Sammy and Sunil Narine brought some level of respectability to the total with their 43-run ninth-wicket partnership, as Afridi ripped through the middle and lower order like a hot knife through butter, on his way to career-best figures of 9-3-12-7.
“I think the way Afridi came and played a blinder, that’s cricket. But I don’t think we counteracted their spinners well enough and on a difficult pitch; we needed a good start and did not manage to get any partnership going from a batting point of view,” said Sammy.
Alluding to Dwayne Bravo’s comments, wherein he said “it’s a game the West Indies will have to forget,” Sammy who was a part of the West Indies 2004 ICC Champions Trophy winning team said it is hard to dust themselves off and look to today’s game.
Certainly, the West Indies batting lineup which lacked permanency last Sunday will be looking to put out a better performance today, with the likes of Christopher Gayle, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons and brothers Dwayne and Darren Bravo looking for some good scores.
Their bowling was sound in Sunday’s encounter, despite Afridi’s innings, as Holder and Roach kept a tight rein on things during the first batting powerplay, which ended with Pakistan wobbling on 23 for 4, amidst a slight drizzle.
Misbah-ul-Haq will be calling on Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammed Hafeez and Asad Shafiq to improve on their performance at the top of the order, laying a foundation for himself, Afridi and to an extent Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz to build on.
Their tall fast bowler Mohamad Irfan has impressed not only with his height, but also his ability to swing the ball both ways against the right- and left-handed batsmen and, like Sunday, when the Providence track played true for the first 90 minutes or so, today’s toss will be an all-important factor.
The final XI for the Windies will be chosen from: Dwayne Bravo (captain), Christopher Gayle, Johnson Charles, Devon Smith, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Tino Best, Marlon Samuels and Lendl Simmons.
Pakistan’s XI from: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Junaid Khan, Mohamad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Shahid Afridi, Umar Amin, Abdur Rehman, Asad Ali, Haris Sohail, Mohammed Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal and Wahab Riaz.