England vs West Indies: Jason Holder overtakes Brian Lara’s Test captaincy record

West Indies’ steely win over England at Southampton has now put Jason Holder at the third spot with 11 wins from his 33 Tests as West Indies captain. With this victory, Holder went past Brian Lara, who had won 10 of the 47 Test matches he captained.

The victory was also the first time in 20 years that West Indies has won the opening Test of a series on English soil. It was also a remarkable feat for the all-rounder who was handed the captaincy at a very young age and had to endure severe losses towards the beginning of his tenure. Holder though never gave in and is now seeing a crop of youngster emerge as they fight it out against top opposition.

The other great achievement for this West Indies team was keeping a great chasing record intact. Chasing 200 runs for victory at Southampton, this was the 61st time they were chasing 200 or less in the fourth innings and had never lost a match before. The victory keeps that record intact as they have now won 55 times and have drawn 6 times while chasing 200 or less.

The West Indies team, ever since the inception of sports have boasted of one of the finest players in the world. Given their dominance in the 1980s the two men who led them in this highly successful period have the best captaincy record.

Clive Lloyd has won 36 matches and lost 12 out of the 74 Tests he captained the Windies and remains the most successful captain in terms of matches won. Vivian Richards, who won 27 and lost 8 of the 50 Tests he captained is placed second although his win percentage is higher than Lloyd’s and second only to the legendary captain Frank Worrell.