David Holford

HOLFORD, DAVID ANTHONY JEROME, who died on May 30, aged 82, was a Barbadian leg-spinning all-rounder best known for making a century in his second Test, at Lord's in 1966, in a match-saving stand with Garry Sobers, his cousin.

The pair had come together with West Indies effectively nine for five, after England had claimed a lead of 86: Sobers told him to bat as if he were at home at Kensington Oval, and the pair added 274, a West Indian sixth-wicket record that lasted almost 38 years. "Standing over six feet, he drove splendidly," said Wisden.

When Sobers was unfit for the home series against Australia early in 1973, he suggested Holford replace him as captain, but Rohan Kanhai was preferred. "I think the fact that he was my cousin rebounded on him," wrote Sobers. "We had played a lot together and captained each other. He was a brilliant boy and went away [to Canada] to study - he got a degree in agriculture, coming back to Barbados in between to play his cricket."

Holford had a long career, carrying on for Barbados until 1978-79, when he won the Shell Shield for the fourth time as captain (he was the first to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in the competition). Two seasons earlier, he had played the last of his 24 Tests, taking five important wickets in a victory over Pakistan - but a 36-year-old leg- spinner didn't fit in Clive Lloyd's pace-packed team.

Holford never reprised his Lord's heroics with the bat, not helped by being shuffled in and out of a side whose main spinner was Lance Gibbs; he did claim five for 23 in an innings victory over India at Bridgetown in 1975-76 after Gibbs finally retired.

On the 1966 England tour, which he finished with 51 wickets and 759 runs, Holford took a career-best eight for 52 against Cambridge University; he made his Test debut at Old Trafford a fortnight later. He and Sobers warmed up for Lord's with a stand of 127. "Garry made a superb 161 and we won by an innings," said Holford. "I can remember him hitting bouncers from fast bowler David Brown through the covers." He also took four wickets, including Fred Titmus with his fourth delivery.

After retiring, following a low-key stint with Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket, Holford had spells as a West Indies selector and team manager in the 1990s. He served the Barbados Cricket Association, and was an advocate of blind cricket.