World No 1 Holder says 'don't get as much credit as I deserve'

'I don't get caught up with it, to be honest. Journalists are there to write their stories, I am merely here to play cricket. It's always a good battle on the field when you face competitors like Stokesy, face competitors around the world'

Ahead of the three-Test series against England, Windies skipper Jason Holder has said that maybe he does not get as much credit as he probably deserves.

Jason Holder and Ben Stokes will be leading West Indies and England in the first Test of the three-Test series on Wednesday. Joe Root will be attending the birth of his second child, and as a result, Stokes would be leading England.

Holder is only the second West Indies player after Sir Garry Sobers to hold the number one ranking among Test all-rounders and he has a career-best 473 points going into the first Test. The 28-year-old from Barbados has been at the top since January 2019 while Stokes with 407 points is at the second position in the ICC rankings.

"I don't really like to get into these personal accolades or ICC rankings. Ben has always been talked up and quite rightfully so, he's a really good cricketer, but the ICC rankings say that I'm the No. 1 ranked all-rounder and maybe don't get as much credit as probably I deserve, who knows," ESPNCricinfo quoted Holder as saying.

"I don't get caught up with it, to be honest. Journalists are there to write their stories, I am merely here to play cricket. It's always a good battle on the field when you face competitors like Stokesy, face competitors around the world," he added.

Ahead of the battle against England, Holder said that Ben Stokes is an excellent cricketer and he would lead England in the right manner.

"I'll give my advice to Stokesy after the series. England is in capable hands -- he's an excellent cricketer, a great competitor and I'm sure the guys in his dressing room look up to him. He'll have experienced campaigners in his dressing room to help him along, I'm sure, so I wish him all the best in this one game as captain," Holder said.

The first Test between England and West Indies will be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton from today onwards.

All international cricket has been suspended since March this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the series between England and West Indies will mark the return of international cricket.

The ICC has also confirmed interim changes to its playing regulations, including the ban of saliva to shine the ball and allowing replacement of players displaying symptoms of COVID-19 during a Test match.