It’s right to ban Holder ...he needs to hurry up

IT WAS absolutely right to ban Jason Holder for the third Test, despite the outcry there has been over the ICC’s decision. The simple truth is that slow over-rates are the scourge of the modern game and the West Indies captain broke the rules. It is not the first time he’s transgressed and remember that he’d been on a final warning for the last 12 months or so and then he was unofficially warned. Yet still there was no apparent attempt to get close to bowling 15 overs an hour in Antigua. It doesn’t matter that the second Test was over in three days. That’s a lame argument. The regulations were still broken and action had to be taken. It’s not a question of whether it’s bad for the game. It’s like driving 40mph in a 30mph zone and getting caught. Match referees are very lenient on the many unnatural breaks going on throughout Test cricket all over the world and it appears no instructions are given to umpires to tell the players to get on with it. Spectators should be made aware of the situation because, to the outside world, the suspension of a man who has done so much for Test cricket over the last couple of weeks came out of the blue. In football you would know when one of your team’s players is a yellow card away from a ban. It should be made public in cricket, too. There is no consistency from the ICC because there are plenty of other teams who are just as bad and there are one or two who will never get touched. But that doesn’t make this decision wrong. There is too much wandering on and off the field and there is no medical reason for players to have drinks outside of the designated breaks. I know that because the ICC have looked into it. If the referee and umpires did their jobs, we wouldn’t have to ban anyone — but they don’t. For instance, what does the fourth umpire do? He could be put in charge of telling the bloke wandering on with a towel, ‘I’m sorry you’ve got to stay off until the break’. I’ve said it before and I will have to keep saying it — get on with the game!