South Africa skipper AB de Villiers has backed his young counterpartfrom West Indies Jason Holder to succeed as captain by saying that he expects the West Indies side to repose a threat in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup of 2015.
The 23 year old Jason Holder has had a rough start to the tournament after conceding 104 runs against the Proteas, thereby, suffering a 1-4 drubbing from South Africa in his first series at the helm and then enduring a shock four-wicket defeat to Ireland in the Windies’ opening Pool B game. However, de Villiers praised Holder’s maturity and said he expected him to come through this tough period.
He is actually a really nice guy and the South Africans have all been there. He, especially, has been there before in his career as well and that every captain goes through really tough times. That it was a really tough game for him but the Proteas as well had a tough game in the last one at Melbourne. That’s part of the game, de Villiers said.
He also knows it for sure that he is mature enough to handle the situation and to reverse it. He’s got enough teammates with experience around him to look after him and there’s no doubt that the West Indies will bounce back. Bonus, they are a classy unit and still a very dangerously potential team in this tournament.
South Africa handed West Indies the joint worst-ever defeat in World Cup history Friday when they thrashed them by 257 runs at the Sydney Cricket Ground here. De Villiers was the architect behind the victory, plundering a 66-ball unbeaten 162 as the Proteas piled up 408/5, the second highest World Cup total.
The 23-year-old Holder, a lanky seamer, suffered at the hands of de Villiers’ with his last two overs gushing 64 runs. He ended with figures of 10-2-104-1. The West Indies next play India at Perth March 6 while South Africa take on Ireland March 3 at Canberra.