West Indies veteran all-rounder Jason Holder has admitted that the team failing to qualify for the upcoming 2023 ODI World Cup is one of the lowest points of his career. West Indies suffered losses against Zimbabwe, Netherlands, and Scotland in the ongoing ICC World Cup qualifiers 2023.
The Windies suffered a seven-wicket loss against Scotland on Saturday, which brought an end to any of their hopes of qualifying for the marquee event. Earlier, the Windies lost in the Super Over contest against the Dutch and lost against Zimbabwe by 35 runs. In fact, it is for the first time that the West Indies have failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup in 48 years.
Holder feels it is imperative to support the young players, rising through the ranks, and added the team can turn the tables in the future.
“I don’t think all is lost. There’s a lot of young guys in the group who can definitely develop and turn things around for West Indies cricket,” Holder said at the post-match press conference. “We’ve got a young crop of players and we’ve got to put some support around them. It’s really important that we try to utilise time outside of competition and put things in place where we can develop our talent.
“We have to look at the levels below and improve them so that when guys get here, they have a good foundation. It’s an area we need to pay some special attention to. It’s not a quick fix. It’s something we need to spend time on. Development is the most important thing. Hopefully in the next couple of years we can see the fruits of that crop.”
Meanwhile, West Indies had also failed to qualify for the Super 12s of the previous edition of the T20 World Cup. Holder admitted this loss is going to hurt them.
“It’s disappointing, especially after last year’s effort in the T20 (World Cup). I’ve had the luxury of playing in two fifty-over World Cups before and some T20 World Cups. There are special occasions so this one will hurt as the one last year did,” Holder said.
West Indies’ performance in the Qualifiers was disappointing as they could not tick the right boxes. They failed to come up with a collective effort and it led to their downfall.
