West Indies captain Jason Holder praised the “massive, massive heart” of Shannon Gabriel following the tourists’ four-wicket win in the first Test against England at Southampton on Sunday.

Fast bowler Gabriel was named player-of-the-match after taking combined figures of nine wickets for 137 runs as international cricket returned from lockdown. The 32-year-old quick was originally only named as a travelling reserve as he recovered from ankle surgery.

But he proved his fitness in two intra-squad warm-up matches and then showed his class as West Indies went 1-0 up in this three-match series. Gabriel now boasts a fine career record of 142 wickets in 46 Tests at an average of under 30, with Holder telling reporters after stumps: “What Shannon has done in this game is nothing surprising.

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“Shannon is just one of those guys who keep doing it. He has a massive, massive heart and he’s been through a lot. He wants success so badly. His body hasn’t held up the way he would like but to see him back out there fit and well and bowling fast for the West Indies is always a pleasing sight.

“He deserves every bit of success he’s had in this game. I’m really, really happy for Shannon, I know what he’s been through. We kept in contact while he was doing rehab. At some stages he was very frustrated by how things were going but he stuck it through,” added all-rounder Holder, who himself took a Test-best 6/42 in England’s lowly first innings 204.

“We all know when Shannon is fit and healthy, he is a handful and he proved it in this game.”

For all Gabriel’s heroics, the West Indies still needed to bat well after being set a target of 200 to win on Sunday’s final day.

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Holder eulogised his team’s gritty fightback on day four of the first Test against England, saying it was by far the best effort he has seen from the side under his leadership.

The West Indies took five wickets for just 30 runs to leave England at 284 for eight at stumps on day four.

The effort from the pacers, late in the day, proved decisive in their four-wicket win on Sunday with Jermaine Blackwood making a match-winning 95.

“Yesterday’s effort was by far the best effort I’ve seen from this group. And not only the bowlers - the fielders kept running round, getting through the overs, and we all kept our energy up right throughout the day,” Holder said in the post-match media interaction.

“...the reason I say that it was the best day for me is down to the fact that every single time I asked for effort from those bowlers, no one said: no, I can’t, I’m too tired. They just all kept running in.

“At that stage when Stokesy (Ben) and Zak (Crawley) were batting, the game started to look a little bit less likely for us to win. We knew we couldn’t lose - we backed ourselves not to lose - but we wanted to win the game, and we knew how important it was for us to win.”

‘No slouch’ Blackwood’

Blackwood might not have played had fellow batsmen Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer decided to tour rather than opting out of a campaign taking place against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.

Holder said of Blackwood: “He had an outstanding first-class competition – his case to get back in the team was pretty strong. “He’s not a slouch at this level either, he has done well for us and I hope he can kick on.”

Holder said England captain Joe Root’s absence due to the birth of his second child gave them an opportunity to test the opposition’s inexperienced line-up.

“In the past we haven’t started series well and we’ve always had to play catch-up. England missing Root was a big miss (because) he’s a high-quality player. We thought it was an opportunity to really get into their inexperienced batting line-up.

“It’s a massive, massive win. To beat England in England is no easy feat. We were able to do it last time we were here in 2017 (but lost series 1-2) so we all know what the feeling is like but things have changed drastically since then. “They’re a massive unit in their backyard so to start the series this well is very promising for us and we feel proud about the way we performed,” he added.

(with PTI and AFP inputs)