Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade

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Michael Holding at honorary degree presentation

Former Jamaica and West Indies fast bowler, Michael Holding, has said that it is a great honour to receive an honorary degree from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom.

"I am grateful to the University of East Anglia for awarding me with this degree and to Suffolk College for nominating me. It is something I will cherish very much," he told JIS News.

Mr. Holding was one of 14 persons presented with honorary degrees by the University during its week-long graduation celebrations last week.

Currently a cricket commentator with the Sky network, Mr. Holding received the Honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree for his contribution to cricket.

"My mother was a teacher and she used to tell me when I was a young man, 'Mikey, I know you love sport but I want you to remember one thing: you've got to get a piece of paper behind you.' Well, now I have," he said amusingly.

Professor Shaun Hargreaves-Heap, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University, who delivered the oration at the ceremony, praised Mr. Holding for his outstanding career and his contribution to cricket.

"Mikey of course also played county cricket here (East Anglia) and his services to cricket have continued since he stopped playing. He is on a committee of the West Indian Cricket Board and he returns to the UK now for 4-5 months a year, for the cricket season, to commentate for Sky TV. And when he's here, his base is in East Anglia, which partly explains why we wish to honour him," he said.

Professor Hargreaves-Heap described Mr. Holding as one of the most extraordinary cricketers he had ever seen.

"I once saw him at the Oval playing against England in 1980 and it was the first Test that I had been to for about 10 years. The atmosphere was gloriously festive. the whistles were blowing, the steel drums were playing and there was Michael Holding running in from the boundary. Well, you could say that about any fast bowler, after all that is what fast bowlers do, they run in from the boundary. But Mikey's was a famously long run; it did literally start at the boundary and yet it never seemed excessive," he said.

"Indeed when people at the time referred to its elegance and beauty, they were absolutely right and against the backdrop of noise and excitement in the stands that day, his movement across the outfield was nothing short of serene. That is why his nickname was 'whispering'. The 'death' part is of course what happened next. Mikey would release the ball and with extraordinary frequency the batsmen would be dispatched, innings terminated, back to the pavilion; and so it was that day at the Oval. England had started from a position where they might have made a game of it and by the end a West Indian victory had become a certainty," Professor Hargreaves-Heap added.

Mr. Holding, who was nicknamed 'Whispering Death' by umpires, due to his smooth, silent run-ups and devastating pace, is widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of international cricket. One of the key architects of the golden age of West Indies cricket in the 1970s and 1980s, he took 249 wickets in just 60 Tests.

In attendance at the ceremony were Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Honourable Professor Kenneth Hall and his wife, Mrs. Rheima Hall, sister of Mr. Holding.

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