Jason Holder Joins Carlos Brathwaite; Rekindles England's 'Disrespect' Issue

WI vs ENG: In the first test between West Indies & England, England went on to play despite winning being out of the question. Jason Holder joins Carlos Brathwaite in reigniting the 'disrespect' issue.

West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder has re-ignited the issue of England cricketers showing "disrespect" to his side in the last session of play during the drawn first Test in Antigua, as the rivals look set to clash in the second Test at Kensington Oval later on Wednesday.

On the day the first Test had ended in a tame draw at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, former West Indian all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite had accused England skipper Joe Root of disrespect to the home side after he played on until five balls remained, when it was no longer mathematically possible to take six wickets.

Thanks to West Indies middle-order batters Nkrumah Bonner and Jason Holder, the hosts had managed to keep the England bowlers at bay with unbeaten 38 and 37, respectively as they safely batted out the final day of the opening Test to take the match to a draw.

Set an unlikely victory target of 286, and having lost four wickets to be in dire straits at 4/67 at the start of the last session, Bonner and Holder had defied the England bowlers for more than two hours in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 80 off 35 overs to see the hosts to safety at 4/147. Both consumed 100-plus deliveries each as England bowlers were left frustrated.

But with only five deliveries of Jack Leach's final over remaining on Day 5 -- and with it being mathematically impossible to take six wickets --, Root offered to shake hands with rival team skipper Kriagg Brathwaite to call off the match.

Carlos Brathwaite opined that Root should have shook hands much earlier to accept the draw but the England skipper played on until five balls remained.

"In my opinion it did (go on longer than it needed to). If I were (West Indies captain) Kraigg Brathwaite or any of the other senior players in that dressing room I would have found it a bit disrespectful that in the last hour, with two set batsmen batting the way that they were and the pitch offering nothing England felt as though they could get six wickets in the last 10 overs going up until five balls left," Brathwaite had said on BT Sport.

On Tuesday, Holder too slammed England's reluctance to shake hands on a draw.

"I thought they went on way too long," Holder told Sportsmail on Tuesday. "I know what Carlos (Brathwaite) said and it would be wrong to say I disagree. When we went into the last hour I told Nkrumah Bonner that if we batted for five more overs they would probably call it (shake hands to signal a draw). So I was really surprised they went on."

Holder opined that Root's tactics could play into West Indies' hands as the home side would be charged up following the episode.

In fact, Carlos Brathwaite too had opined that West Indies will come down hard on England following the "disrespect".

"So why have they done it against us? The West Indies are a better team than we give them credit for, this passage of play proves it and now we have two Test matches to prove that we are better than England think we are," Brathwaite had said after the first Test.

On Tuesday, Holder added, "In a sense, I didn't mind because it gave the English team more overs in their legs. Stokesey (Ben Stokes) was running in and putting in a really big effort. I look at the positives in any situation and the positive for me was that the English lads were on their feet and had to bowl a lot longer. They had to toil a lot longer. It would be good if we could put them back in the field for that length of time again now."

Holder added that the hosts were more motivated for the last two Tests as they attempt to extend their formidable home record versus England.

"We are up for the challenge. You saw the way Nkrumah batted in the entire (first) Test. His game is built around time spent at the wicket and if they want to stay in the field for excessive amounts of time that's up to them. We've just got to focus on what we need to do," added Holder.