Dhaka, October 28: One look and you cannot believe that the man was a terror on the field. He is so gentlemanly. But he was always known for his mannerism off the field, while some of his opponents even suggest he never sledged or swore even on it. ``Give me a ball in my hand maan, and I will show quick I can be.'' That's Michael Antony Holding for you, the former West Indian fast bowler turned TV commentator now. ``I always let my bowling do the talking. Why waste your energy over petty things like sledging,'' he says.Holding likes to be well-dressed. He also likes horse-racing and has his horse running in a Derby back home in Jamaica. He also owns a petrol pump. ``Cricket is, and will always remain my first love. Commentary is a way to remain in touch with the game,'' he says.Mannersism apart, Holding had one of the most swift and beautiful bowling action of all time and was known as the `Rolls Royce among fast bowlers'. His autobiography, titled `Whispering Death' is not only well-written, but alsoaptly describes the bowler he was. Check out with the Indians who played in the 1976 Jamaica Test when Indian skipper Bishen Singh Bedi was forced to declare the Indian second innings as Holding, going around the wicket, spat venom on the Indians.``The Indians had chased more than 400 runs in the fourth innings of the previous Test at Port of Spain and we were very frustrated,'' goes Holding's excuse. It was then that skipper Clive Lloyd's `Deadly Foursome' was formulated.Bedi had to declare even though India had lost only five wickets. But three others were injured, courtesy Holding's `perfume ball' and with only the skipper and leg-spinner Chandrashekhar left to bat, Bedi said, ``If bowlers are also hit, who will bowl then.'' The West Indian pacers led by Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Colin Croft and later Malcom Marshall gave nightmares to batsmen for well over a decade as the West Indies were unstoppable.From a tearaway fast bowler of the '70s, a back injury forced him to cut down on run-upand pace and concentrate on line, length and movement. ``I could move the ball both ways with the same action. Even on wickets like the ones in India and Pakistan, I did reasonably well due to this.''He was no rabbit with the bat either and his highest Test score was 78 with some more half-centuries thrown in. He also remembers his record last wicket partnership in One-day internationals with Viv Richards against England at the Old Trafford. ``I have never seen Viv go as wild as he did that day. Bowlers like Ian Botham and Bob Willis were disappearing into the stands as he got almost a hundred of his runs with me.''England seemed to be his favourite opponent as his best bowling in Test cricket is also against them when he got 14 wickets in a match at The Oval. ``We had very good slip fielders and wicket-keeper Jeff Dujon never let anything go past him. Our batting line up was full of great batsmen. That's why our side of the Eighties was one of the best ever though some consider it equivalent to DonBradman's '48 `Invincibles','' Holding said with his eyes all lit up.``Sadly, West Indian cricket is not the same anymore. The transition period is taking too long but let's hope we recover soon. The problem was that when we were winning in the eighties, we did not groom many youngsters,'' he reasoned.But with people like Michael Holding in their ranks how could they have done that?
