Vanburn Alonzo Holder (born 10 October 1945) is a Barbadian former

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er who played in 40 Test matches and 12 One Day Internationals for the

West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West Indies. The players on ...

between 1969 and 1979. A fast-medium bowler, he bowled alongside the likes of

Charlie Griffith Sir Charles Christopher Griffith, KA, SCM (born 14 December 1938) is a West Indian former cricketer who played in 28 Tests from 1960 to 1969. He formed a formidable fast bowling partnership with Wes Hall during the 1960s, but experienced a n ...

and

Wes Hall Sir Wesley Winfield Hall (born 12 September 1937) is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bow ...

. Holder, who also played for English county cricket side

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, was appointed an honorary vice president of the club in 2021.

Playing career

He debuted in the tour of England in 1969 and returned again in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

as part of an improving side which ended a 6½-year streak of not having won a Test series. In 1974 he was part of Worcestershire's

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

winning side and earlier in the year he scored his only first-class century, 122 for

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

. He took 6 for 39 in 1974–75 against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to help his side win the series. Eventually however he lost his place in the side as younger and faster bowlers were emerging. Holder played more tests when leading players were playing

World Series Cricket World Series Cricket (WSC) was a commercial professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 which was organised by Kerry Packer and his Australian television network, Nine Network. WSC ran in commercial competition to establish ...

in 1977–78 and took 6 for 28 against Australia in Trinidad. In 1981 he played county cricket for

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

in nine matches, scoring 181 runs and taking 45 wickets. At the time he was also playing club cricket for West Bromwich Dartmouth. He also played in South Africa for the Orange Free State. After retiring he was appointed as a first-class

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

in England in 1992. Holder retired as an umpire in 2010 and as of November 2020 is the most recent non-white umpire appointed by the ECB. During 2021 Holder was appointed as an honorary vice president of

Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebrande ...

Personal life

When his playing days came to an end Holder went on to settle in

where he still lives to this day.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holder, Vanburn 1945 births Living people West Indies Test cricketers Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup Free State cricketers West Indies One Day International cricketers Barbados cricketers Barbadian cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Barbadian cricket umpires Shropshire cricketers Minor Counties cricketers