The young Jamaican has an easy grace about him, even at a full sprint. He glides across the parched Oval turf silently, almost as if he isn’t touching the ground at all. The softness of his stride and the speed and hostility with which he bowls give him one of the great sporting nicknames. Michael Holding, 22 in the summer of 1976, becomes known as Whispering Death. The 14 wickets for 149 runs he takes in this, the fifth and final match of the series – still a record for a West Indian bowler in test cricket – cap a summer where the whole West Indies took it very personally.
There is a history of South Africans leaving home and playing international cricket for other nations. Traditionally, the destination of choice has been England, though today there are exceptionally talented South Africans playing for Australia and New Zealand. There are lots of reasons why they do this – Kevin Pietersen ended up playing for England because of conflict with administrators in South Africa, for instance – but in the 1970s, it is because apartheid South Africa is banned from playing internationally. Tony Greig, England captain in 1976, is one such player and commits a profound mistake when, the day before the series starts, in his Afrikaner accent, he announces his intention to make the West Indies, a team of black men, descendents of slaves, grovel.
The outcry is instantaneous. The retribution prolonged. The series is 5 matches long, across 11 weeks of the English summer. An angry and extremely motivated West Indies win 3-1 and it goes down in history as the beginning an era of unmatched dominance in international sport. Viv Richards scores 829 runs at an average of 118, Gordon Greenidge 592 at 66. Holding and Andy Roberts take 28 wickets each - 56 of the 100 available English victims. The team takes every opportunity to revenge themselves on the English.
In the end, it is Greig who on the field of play, performatively drops to his hands and knees in front of his opponents.
In 1981, Mikey Holding begins a test in Bridgetown, Barbados with a stunning, never bettered over to England opening batter Geoff Boycott – a famously terrible person. The 6th and final ball sends Boycott’s stumps flying. It’s doubtful whether he sees the first five deliveries at all. Boycott will claim that this over, and by extension himself, makes Holding – by now the best fast bowler in the world – famous.
6 weeks later, Holding is playing club cricket against amateurs in Lancashire. The league features quality international players turning out amongst bank managers and estate agents. Roberts plays for another team. Kapil Dev, one of Indian cricket’s gods, is there, too.
Mikey doesn’t do well. Injuries, weather and a desire not to hurt players far less talented than him keep him from fully dominating, but he shows flashes of his capabilities. In an act of staggering racism and stupidity, a player from an opposing team turns up for a match wearing a monkey mask "as a joke." Mikey takes 9 for 13 that day, clean bowling 7.
He retires in 1987 having played 60 tests and taken 259 wickets, low in today’s numbers. The West Indies are the best in the world and will remain so well into the 90s. In 1984 they beat England 5-0 in England – celebrated than and now as the Blackwash – and repeat the feat in 1986 when England tour the West Indies. By now the Barbadian, Malcolm Marshall has inherited Mikey’s crown as the greatest fast bowler of all. They win 4-0 in England two years later, Marshall taking 35 wickets in the 5-match series.
Their rule is not preordained. There is outcry over their bowlers. It is said to be unfair to bowl that fast, to target players the way the West Indians do. It is dangerous. They will kill people. Left unsaid is that nothing they do is against the rules. Nothing is said about similar bowlers from other countries like the lauded Australian duo of Thompson and Lillee. Rules are changed. More and better safety equipment is introduced. Helmets become universal. Viv Richards is one of the last to still wear a soft cap when facing fast bowling. The West Indies adapt and continue to win.
Through the 80s there are a number of tours of South Africa made up of players willing to take money to break the ban on playing there. Most rebels receive multi-year bans. The careers of many are effectively ended. Many others are welcomed back with open arms. Graham Gooch, for instance, will go on to captain England after leading on team on a tour in 1981-82.
Two of the tours are made up of West Indians. Those who travel are either talented players not quite good enough to break into the team, or older players coming to the end of their careers. The South Africans try to get the best West Indians to come, too. Richards, at this point the biggest star in the sport, is told that if he comes he will be considered an honourary white man, exempt from the rules of apartheid. He turns down the blank cheque he is offered. Those who go are banned from playing for the West Indies and many are ostracised socially and professionally over their willingness to take money from the apartheid regime.
Today, South Africa's test captain is Temba Bavuma.
Michael Holding becomes a commentator. His fast bowling mindset provides an alternative to the procession of former batters who sit beside him. Over the years, Mikey's baritone Jamaican twang becomes beloved in the same way Richie Benaud’s soft Australian burr was before him.
Cricket commentary is often relaxed and eccentric - a test match has 8 hours of play a day over 4 or 5 days - and the commentary team will chat about many things during the day. There is much time to fill, and sometimes they do it with meandering conversations about pigeons, or buses, or cakes. And sometimes with more important and vital subjects. During a rain break during a match between England and the West Indies three years ago today Mikey delivers his most profound and important address when he and Ebony Rainford Brent talk about the racism they have experienced in their lives. While the UK is in covid lockdown, the US is gripped by Black Lives Matter protests and Mikey’s monologue and the TV interviews that follow go viral. He writes a book afterwards, Why We Kneel, How We Rise, discussing the effects of racism through the prism of sport, his own experiences, and those of other stars, including Michael Johnson, Naomi Osaka, and his countryman, Usain Bolt. It wins many prizes.
He retired in 2021. The excellent Indian commentator, Harsha Bhogle described him as “cricket in rhythm,” but this is a disservice. Mikey Holding, Whispering Death, ended up using the eloquence and rhythm he played with for far more than just cricket.
