Northamptonshire sign Jason Holder for the upcoming County season

Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, on Thursday, announced the signing of Windies skipper Jason Holder for part of this year’s County Championship and One-Day Cup campaigns, subject to Cricket West Indies NOC approval. Holder will land in England before the start of the season and will be available to play the games against Middlesex and Glamorgan. He will also play in the opening six games of the One-Day Cup tournament.

The latest news comes just days after the world number one Test all-rounder inspired Windies to a stunning series win over England. He starred in both the games to help the Caribbean side beat England by 381 runs and 10 wickets in the first two Tests respectively. The lanky cricketer scored an unbeaten 202 in the series opener – the third-highest score by a Test No 8 – and then took four wickets in the second innings of the second Test to take his tally in the series to seven.

However, his hopes of guiding Windies to a famous whitewash took a big blow when the ICC suspended him for the last Test after founding him guilty of slow over-rate. One of the best allrounders in the world at the moment, Holder has so far amassed 1,783 funs in 37 Tests in addition to picking up 93 wickets. He has also 85 One-Day International caps to his name.

Looking forward to the experience of county cricket

Excited with the prospect of his maiden stint in County Championship, Jason Holder said he is looking forward to playing for Northamptonshire. He said playing in England will give him an opportunity to test himself in different conditions.

“England is somewhere I’ve wanted to play for a long time and I’m looking forward to the experience of county cricket and testing myself in the different conditions,” he said according to the statement released by the club. “Northamptonshire has a reputation of being a good club to be a part of, with a tight-knit squad and coaches who want to get the best out of their players.

“I’m hopeful from a personal point that it will provide me a good opportunity of acclimatizing to English conditions and getting some time in the middle ahead of the World Cup in England and I’m grateful to Northamptonshire for the opportunity which I am really looking forward to.”

Jason Holder, nonetheless, is the third high-profile international name to have signed for the county for the upcoming season. Prior to signing Holder, Northamptonshire had signed South Africa batsman Temba Bavuma and Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashraf.

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