Former Test umpire John Holder at Worksop
by Paul Barker, 29th March 2008

The former Hampshire cricketer, John Holder will be the guest speaker at the April meeting of the Bassetlaw and District Umpires Association at Central Avenue, Worksop on Saturday 5th April. 

Holder who was a brisk right arm medium pacer, played for Hampshire between 1968 and 1972 with his finest season coming in 1970 when he bagged 55 wickets at a modest 23.27 runs. His best performances came in 1972 when he took 6 for 49 and 7 for 79 against Gloucestershire and a further month down the line he did the hat-trick against Kent.

John then went on to play as a professional in the Lancashire and Yorkshire Leagues between 1974 and 1982 before joining the first class umpires panel in 1983. It was in this capacity that he made it right to the very top of his profession. He was elevated to test status and umpired his first test in 1988 and in the next three years he officiated on nine more occasions at that level including four with John Hampshire in Pakistan for the series against India.

This was one of the first appointments when the neutral umpiring system was introduced and his final appearance at this level came in 2001. In the same year the curtain came down on his one-day international umpiring career after he had stood in nineteen matches.

Another claim to fame came when he along with Don Oslear came up with the idea of a bowl-out after the Tilcon Trophy final had been washed out by rain and the organisers had ordered them to think of another way of settling the match rather than the odious means of the toss of a coin. This idea was subsequently adopted into all ECB competitions.

John Wakefield Holder (pictured above) was born on the 19th March 1945 at St. George, Barbados in the West Indies and was encouraged by the late great Caribbean legend Everton Weekes in his early years. He was educated at the St. Giles Boys School and Combermere High School in Barbados. Outside cricket he works as a financial consultant and his career average as a bowler saw him take 139 first class wickets at 24.56. 

The meeting commences at 2.30 p.m. and everyone who is interested in cricket are invited along to what should be a most interesting afternoon.