David Holford Cricketer hailed as the finest captain West Indies never had
DAVID HOLFORD, who has died aged 82, was a cricketer who spent a lifetime serving the game at every level both on and off the field; few have made such a long and distinctive contribution to West Indies cricket as the former Test all-rounder.
A tall and powerful right-handed lower-middleorder batter, a leg break and googly bowler, and a reliable catcher close to the wicket, for many observers he remains the finest captain the West Indies never had. In this and so many other matters, he found that being the cousin of the legendary West Indian captain, Gary Sobers, was both help and hindrance.
David Anthony Jerome Holford was born on April 16 1940 at St Michael, Barbados; in 1959, he played for Barbados Colts against Peter May’s visiting MCC side. He graduated in Agricultural Science from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.
For a while cricket took a back seat when he undertook postgraduate studies at Macdonald College in Quebec. Returning home to work in the department of agriculture, he put in some fine performances with bat and ball in the 1966 Shell Shield tournament for Barbados, earning a place in the team to tour England later that year.
He made an impressive start in the warm-up games, including an unbeaten 107 against Lancashire, and it was at Old Trafford that he later made his international debut, scoring 32 and claiming four wickets.
His finest hour came in the following Test at Lord’s. As he walked to the crease in the second innings to join his captain and cousin, the team were in deep trouble, nine runs ahead and five wickets down. Over the next five hours they shared a record sixth-wicket partnership against England of 274, Sobers compiling 163 not out, with Holford unbeaten on 105. He ended the tour second to Sobers in the bowling averages.
In India later that year, Holford opened his account with a knock of 80 that helped to seal a six-wicket win, but a bout of pleurisy forced him to return home.
Recalled for the tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1968-69, he hit 80 in Adelaide in a recordbreaking ninth-wicket partnership of 122 with Jackie Hendriks.
He was ever-present for the 1971-72 home series with New Zealand, and when Sobers was asked to nominate his successor as captain, Holford was one of his preferred choices, though in the event the man chosen was Rohan Kanhai. Sobers suspected that Holford was passed over because of their blood relationship, and would later write: “He should have been captain of West Indies.”
Holford’s final international appearance came in 1977 against Pakistan in Kingston – where he signed off his Test career by claiming five wickets and scoring 37. A year later he joined Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. He had played in 24 Tests, scoring 768 runs and taking 51 wickets.
In domestic cricket Holford enjoyed a long and profitable career with the Spartan Club, and also played a key role in the Queen’s Park club’s successive titles in the Barbados Cup.
He was also a member of the triumphant Barbados side in the 1967 and 1968 Shell Shield, and after he succeeded Sobers as captain they continued to dominate the domestic game throughout the 1970s, Holford becoming the first player to capture 100 wickets and score 1,000 runs in the competition.
Between 1960 and 1979, Holford totalled 3,821 first class runs, while his 253-wicket tally included a best return of 8-32 against Cambridge University at Fenners in 1966.
During the 1990s he chaired the West Indies selection committee, and served as assistant manager on the 1991 tour of England, and manager for a tour of Australia; in 1992-93 he led the players on their first official visit to South Africa.
David Holford is survived by his wife Marva and their son.
David Holford, born April 16 1940, died May 30 2022