David Holford

David Anthony Jerome Holford (born April 16, 1940) is a former West Indian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1966 to 1977. He is the cousin of Garry Sobers.[1]

David Holford
Cricket information
BattingRight-hand bat
BowlingLegbreak
International information
National side
  • West Indian
Test debut (cap 124)2 June 1966 v England
Last Test15 April 1977 v Pakistan
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class List A
Matches 24 99 12
Runs scored 768 3,821 135
Batting average 22.58 31.31 19.28
100s/50s 1/3 3/20 -/-
Top score 105* 111 46
Balls bowled 4,816 17,430 330
Wickets 51 253 8
Bowling average 39.39 31.99 31.25
5 wickets in innings 1 8
10 wickets in match 2 n/a
Best bowling 5/23 8/52 3/29
Catches/stumpings 18/- 83/- 4/-
Source:

Holford was born at Upper Collymore Rock, Saint Michael, Barbados, and was a middle-order batsman and leg-spinner. In his second Test, at Lord's in 1966, he and Sobers put on an unbroken partnership of 274 for the sixth wicket after West Indies had lost five for 95 in their second innings and were leading by only nine runs. Holford scored 105 not out, his only Test century.[2] He took 5 wickets and made 80 in the First Test against India in 1966–67, but then suffered an attack of pleurisy and had to return home.[3] He never had a regular place in the Test team after that. His best Test bowling figures came in 1975–76 when he took 5 for 23 on the first day against India in the First Test at Bridgetown.[4]

He played for Barbados from 1960–61 to 1978–79 (apart from a season in Trinidad in 1962–63), captaining the team in most matches from 1969–70 until 1978–79. His highest first-class score was 111 for Barbados against the touring Indians in 1970–71, when he put on 213 with Sobers for the fourth wicket. His best first-class bowling figures were 8 for 52 (12 for 115 in the match) for the West Indian touring team against Cambridge University in 1966.[5] He also took 4 for 89 and 6 for 61 for Barbados against Combined Leeward and Windward Islands in 1969–70.

He later played in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket, and served on the West Indies selection panel.

He has a degree in agriculture and has worked as a soil scientist, and another degree in computer studies.[6]

References

  1. Lawrence Booth, "Nothing he couldn't do" (March 30, 2007).
  2. England v West Indies, Lord's 1966
  3. Martin-Jenkins, p. 347.
  4. West Indies v India, Bridgetown 1975–76
  5. Cambridge U v West Indians 1966
  6. Garry Sobers, My Autobiography, Headline, London, 2002, p. 71.

Sources

  • Martin-Jenkins, C. (1983), The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers, Rigby: Adelaide. ISBN 9780727018700.
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