West Indies pace bowling great and one of the most recognised commentators in the decades gone by, Michael Holding, said that he will be back in the commentary box if there is no cricket this year.
Holding, a regular with the Sky Sports panel, had hinted at retiring this year. However, England and the Wales Cricket Board has suspended all cricketing activity atleast till July in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I couldn’t see myself going further than 2020,” Holding told ESPNCricinfo on a video chat. “If England doesn’t have its season this year, I’ll have to think about going back in 2021. I have been with sky since 1998 and they have looked after me so well.
“I can’t walk away with the season unfinished. I would want to bid a proper goodbye. As things stand, there is a good chance I will be back next year,” he added.
Holding, though, was positive that fans will see cricketing action later in the year, provided the environment is safe for the players and the stakeholders involved.
“There are contracts that need to be fulfilled,” the 68-year-old said. “Look at Sky Sports, they pay a lot of money to the ECB. If matches don’t happen, ECB will just have to give the money back to Sky, which they cannot afford. They will have to play behind closed doors, provided the safety measures are in place.
Among other things, Holding pointed out that statistics alone shouldn’t dictate the greatness of a player citing the example of England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who was named the ICC cricketer of the year.
Holding said: “Statistics are not the be-all and the end-all of cricket. Look at Ben Stokes, who got ICC cricketer of the year. He was not among the top-100 wicket-takers, he was not in the top-10 in the run-scoring charts but he performed in the big moments.”
Speaking of the changes in the modern game, especially in white-ball cricket, he said: “All the variations that you are seeing right now is because of the helmets, as [Viv] Richards told me once. The innovations we see in the game are only in the shorter formats. Can you imagine the Dil-scoop being played without helmets?”
Among current players, Holding picked out South Africa’s Dale Steyn as the pacer he’d have loved to bowl in tandem with. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and England’s Geoffrey Boycott were named as Holding’s toughest opponents.