Windies batsmen should start using their brains: Holding

Pace bowling great Michael Holding on Saturday pleaded with the West Indies batsmen to start using their brains, following their four-wicket loss to India in a World Cup Pool B game at the WACA on Friday.

Holding took a dig at opener Chris Gayle’s shot selection too, as he was caught in the deep hooking a Mohammed Shami bouncer as the Windies slumped to their third loss from five games in the event.

“He (Shami) had been bowling well. Just wait, you tried pulling a short ball it didn’t work. You get another short ball and you play the same shot again. Just think a little bit about what is happening. If Chris Gayle bats 35 overs, every chance of him getting a big score. But he gets out,” Holding was quoted as saying by news.com.au.

The 61-year-old said it was not only Gayle who lost his composure, but the shots that some other batsmen played also were “reckless” and “irresponsible".

“He wasn’t the only one. A lot of strokeplay that we saw there was just reckless, irresponsible batting. (They were) not using their brains, not thinking about their cricket,” he said.

The former fast bowler nicknamed the ‘whispering death’ took 249 wickets in 60 Tests. He also represented the Caribbean side in 102 One-day Internationals (ODIs) and picked 142 wickets in a career that started in 1976.

He added it was the effect of Twenty20 cricket that was affecting the mindset of the batsmen playing in a 50-over game.

“Chris Gayle has lost his discipline in regard to 50-over cricket. He sometimes just throws his bat at the ball, loses his composure just swinging because he has got so accustomed to the shorter form..”

“ A lot of the guys who have been very successful in the T20s are not as successful in the 50-over game and we are seeing the reason. lack of commitment, lack of thinking and just going out and just playing instead of thinking about what they’re actually doing,” he concluded.