Michael Holding is famous for two things: bowling very fast and talking nice and slow. Originally a sprinter in Jamaica, he played cricket for the West Indies in their 1980s heyday and became a vital part of the most terrifying bowling attack in cricket history. He was the one with the long, silky run-up and the penchant for sending Englishmen’s stumps flying. Now, at 52, he is one of the few commentators who are in demand even when their own team isn’t playing. His voice; deep, warm and very, very relaxed, has become the sound of Caribbean cricket.
Cricketers are nomads, forever on long tours, and if they take up commentary, the travelling never stops. Holding is on the road nine months of the year. “If I am home for a month, that’s a long time,” he says.
Still a Jamaican citizen, he is partly based in Florida, where two of his three grown-up children live, along with his second wife, Laurie-Anne. His other child is with his ex-wife in Australia. Sometimes he’ll spend his own holidays outside the Caribbean. “I go where people know nothing about cricket,” he says. “To the Bahamas, where there’s no chance of anyone asking me about the game, and I can just relax and get away from it all.”
Where would he recommend on home turf, in the Caribbean? “St Lucia and Grenada. Everybody goes to Barbados, but it’s getting a bit expensive as far as I’m concerned, whereas St Lucia and Grenada haven’t become that commercialised yet. You can go on a reasonable budget and have a good time.”
St Lucia is the England team’s base for the group stage of the World Cup. “They’re very fortunate. It’s a fantastic island. There’s a strip about 50m in from the beach called Gros Islet, which comes alive at night with the bars and the restaurants. It has a really nice atmosphere: you can walk along feeling free, but also safe. I’ve been going since 1972, when I played in an under-19s tournament. We spent three weeks there and I can’t remember anybody complaining about anything.
“Grenada is a smaller version of Jamaica, very mountainous. It has a very nice beach as well, called Grand Anse, and the capital, St George’s, has a great harbour, very picturesque, with good hotels and bars.”
Ask for a favourite hotel, and Holding is uncharacteristically hesitant. “Oh… ah… that is a bit difficult. I would have to say Tamarind Cove in Paynes Bay, Barbados (+1 246 432 1332; www.tamarindcovehotel.com). It’s not a high-rise, the highest rooms are two floors up, and it’s spread out on a nice piece of property right on the beach, on the Caribbean side, not the Atlantic. A bit pricey though. I certainly prefer hotels that are low-rise, or have cottages spread out. It’s a more relaxed atmosphere and you feel a lot more comfortable walking around in casual gear. Not like in big hotels, where you feel underdressed if you’re not in a suit, so you hurry through the lobby and get to your room quickly.”
Cricketers do a lot of eating out – and drinking. But unlike some retired fast bowlers, Holding has kept his figure. He doesn’t drink beer and has only the occasional glass of white wine. But he does like restaurants. “There’s a very nice one in Antigua called Home, because it used to be a house. It’s in St John’s, but just a little bit out of town, off Fort Rd (+1 268 461 7651; www.thehomerestaurant.com). It’s run by an Antiguan guy, Carl Thomas, and his partner, Rita, is German. It’s Creole food, but there are all sorts of dishes done in a Caribbean way. The atmosphere is pretty good because again it’s not one of these big air-conditioned restaurants. It’s very homely, as its name suggests.”
