Holding to retire from cricket commentary

Former West Indies fast bowler, Michael Holding is retiring after 31 years as a TV commentator, ESPNcricinfo said.

Holding, 67, played 60 Tests and 102 One-Day International (ODI), claiming 391 wickets, before moving behind the microphone after his retirement from playing in 1987.

His first TV broadcast came during England’s 1990 tour of the West Indies.

Holding had indicated last  year that he will be retiring at the end of the 2021 cricket season.

He is widely regarded as one game’s greatest fast bowlers, playing for the West Indies from 1975 to 1987 and becoming an integral part of the all-conquering West Indies sides of the era.

Holding never held back from expressing some forthright opinions on the game, not least that he would not commentate in domestic Twenty20 leagues, because he thought it was not cricket.

Having been keenly aware that the significance of the West Indies teams he played for went far beyond the field of play, the Black Lives Matter movement in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd last year became a moment for Holding’s voice to be heard loud and clear once again.

His personal piece to Sky’s camera on racism and inequality became one of the highlights of the year, eventually winning two broadcast awards in the United Kingdom .

Holding, who  has been with Sky Sports  for more than three decades, won the Royal Television Society  (RTS) Award for  Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit and the channel, the best Sports Program award.

The RTS said Holding “captured the mood of the event perfectly, bringing a  personal perspective to bear on a moment of huge significance,” when talking about Floyd’s murder and the movement it sparked.

That led this year to his acclaimed book, “Why We Kneel, How We Rise” dealing with racism in sport, cricinfo reported.