Holding picks Lawson, Best for Third Test

ST. JOHN’S: Legendary West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding believes young pacers Jermaine Lawson and Tino Best should be included in the West Indies cricket team for the third Cable and Wireless Test match against Australia starting tomorrow at Kensington Oval.

The West Indies will enter the match trailing 2-0 after taking only seven Australian wickets in the Second Test match, which they lost by 118 runs at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad last week. “I am hoping they will play (both) Best and Lawson in the starting 11 in Barbados. They are the two quickest men in the 14 that they have selected,” Holding told the Antigua SUN newspaper.  Holding, covering the series as a television commentator, believes — with Australia already holding an unbeatable series lead — there is little to gain from denying the young bowlers the chance for exposure.

 “I think we have done very well in the batting department where we have brought in a lot of youngsters and they have shown promise and they have now started to produce. “I think we now need to do the same thing with our bowling department,” said Holding, who captured 249 test wickets during a 12-year Test career from 1975 to 1987. “If we are losing with people who have been there for a long time and not showing any improvement, we might as well lose with the youngsters,” he added. The 21-year-old Lawson, suffering from chicken pox, missed the Second Test in Port-of-Spain after he had taken three wickets for 142 runs in the First Test in Georgetown.

The uncapped Best, also 21, was drafted into the Second Test squad as cover for Lawson after a tournament-leading 39 wickets in the 2002 Carib Beer Series.  “At least by playing the youngsters we will be giving them a chance to gain from their experience and the opportunity to get better in time,” Holding said.  “I don’t believe in just rotating the same people over and over and they are not showing any improvement so I am hoping they will start playing the youngsters.” Holding, who flew from Trinidad to Antigua last week to attend a wedding, is conducting a fast bowling clinic with the assistance of former Test fast bowler and friend Andy Roberts and Manager of the StickyWicket restaurant John Maginley.