Lauderhill – An evening that began with a long list of West Indian worries finished with Jason Holder punching the air and yelling in relief. The visitors edged Pakistan off the final ball to level the three-match T20I series and, more importantly, to halt a run of two wins in their previous nineteen completed games.
West Indies had travelled light on confidence. Rovman Powell, Brandon King, Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer sat in the treatment room, Andre Russell and Nicholas Pooran had stepped away, and memories of a 5-0 drubbing by Australia still felt fresh. A sharper performance in the field was needed after the dropped chances of the first match; instead, it was one experienced head who supplied virtually everything.
Holder, now 33 and carrying more than a decade of fast-bowling mileage, became the side’s leading T20I wicket-taker with 4 for 19, held two sharp catches and, when most of the recognised batting had gone, slapped the winning boundary. His opening act – a heavy ball that hurried Mohammad Rizwan – set the tone. Two cutters accounted for Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman, and a nerveless final over underlined why team-mates still look to him.
“Just getting over the line, to be honest,” he said while collecting the Player-of-the-Match award. “As I said before, it’s been a tough couple of weeks for us. We just needed a win. We brought it down to the very end, unfortunately. But fortunately, we still got over the line.”
Pakistan had crawled to 146 after a mid-innings stall on a used surface. Shaheen Shah Afridi, coming round the wicket, made life awkward for Kyle Mayers and Johnson Charles, and when Shadab Khan removed Shai Hope, the chase drifted. At 111 for six, 36 were still required from 18 balls; Romario Shepherd joined Holder and the pair talked targets rather than panic.
“I told Romario when we were batting, we needed at least four sixes with the scenario that was posed to us. We got three. We fell probably one short, but we still got over the line. That was our target. Just keeping wickets in hand, obviously, but still trying to hit our strong areas and find the boundary.”
Shepherd cleared the ropes twice, then holed out, leaving Shamar Joseph – on debut and more comfortable with the new ball than the bat – for company. Afridi began the last over with West Indies needing six. Holder drove a low full toss for a single when the crowd begged for a boundary. Joseph hustled one run, restoring the strike. Afridi pushed the fourth ball wide, and umpire Joel Wilson stretched both arms; still, four were required from the last legal delivery. Holder shuffled across, waited for the yorker, and swatted it behind square. He was already shouting before the ball hit the rope.
“We are powerful players and we know we can find the boundary. But credit to the Pakistani bowlers as well. I thought they bowled re” – the words trailed off, but the respect was clear enough.
Numbers offer neat validation: Holder’s 69 wickets have now nudged past Dwayne Bravo’s mark, and his economy on the night sat under five. Yet the broader picture concerned belief. Phil Simmons, back with the squad in an advisory role, spoke afterwards of “trusting skills rather than chasing moments” and suggested the group might have “got ahead of itself” in recent series.
Shaheen accepted Pakistan’s death-overs imprecision but praised the hosts’ fight. “We were probably ten short with the bat and one ball early with the ball,” he said. “Small margins.”
The series, 1-1, moves north to Providence with the World Cup seven weeks away. West Indies still have issues: a misfiring middle order, niggles to frontline batters and disciplinary lapses in the field. For one night, though, they rediscovered the habit of closing out tight finishes – and, in Holder, saw that the most valuable currency remains calm head plus clear plan.
Word of his own motivation came at the top of the day, before a ball was bowled. “I have a burning desire to make a change, so I keep putting in my best effort,” he’d said, almost under his breath. By stumps, effort had become evidence.
