West Indies skipper Jason Holder fully focused on team unity

Bridgetown, Jan 21 (CRICKETNMORE): Test captain Jason Holder says one of his main goals is to transform the West Indies into a tightly knit unit and believes this will be the catalyst for any turnaround in the struggling team's fortunes.

The Caribbean side has endured a torrid time in Test and One-Day International (ODI) cricket over the last decade and are currently ranked eighth and ninth respectively in the formats.

Holder said with the West Indies bringing together players from several nations, the challenge was always to get them to play as a collective.

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"Cricket is played in the park so I always stress for guys to share as much information as possible, communicate with one another and make sure that whenever we step into the park, we step as 11 unified players," Holder told CBC Radio's cricket show here on Friday.

"I think the more we do that, the more positive results we will have. In the history of West Indies cricket of late, you've been seeing individuals stand out but we haven't been able to get that collective reward, and that is something I am really, really trying to change in terms of the mindset of our players - trying to come together collectively."

The 25-year-old Holder has led the West Indies in 12 of his 20 Tests and 28 of his 49 ODIs, but has overseen a tough period for the Caribbean side where they have struggled to find success.

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He has also presided over a young, inexperienced team and has been charged with moulding a winning unit.

Holder, who is preparing to lead Barbados Pride in the Regional Super50 starting next week, said his hope was to create the same level of unity in the West Indies side that existed in regional sides.

"You would get such camaraderie for instance in a Trinidad team or in a Barbados team where they are all Barbadians or all Trinidadians but when you are mixing the countries up in terms of players coming out of the Leewards, the Windwards, Barbados, Guyana, it's always a challenge," Holder explained.

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"You haven't spent that much time around certain players. You're just basically getting to know them."

Holder was one of the youngest-ever Test captains of the West Indies at age 23, and the 15th youngest captain of any Test team.