Kingston, 16 September 2021 - The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has said that Jamaica, the Caribbean and indeed the entire cricket world will agree that over time Michael Holding’s cricket commentary became as penetrating as the fast bowling for which he was famous.

Minister Grange’s comment follows Holding’s announcement that he has retired as an international cricket commentator.

Minister Grange said:

“As the Minister of Sport in Jamaica, Mikey’s homeland, I cannot overstate how proud we are of this man who moved at ‘rapid pace’ from being a great fast bowler to being a great cricket commentator.

Over the past 30 years, people have come to regard Mikey as one of the most influential and widely recognised voices in cricket. He has been a member of the commentary panel of the British Sky Sports channel for over 20 years and gained a reputation for razor-sharp insights into the game that made him popular with cricket fans and supporters around the world.

But Mikey has shown that commentary on cricket is not the only commentary he is capable of. In recent times, demonstrated that he also had views on racism that would attract international attention and praise.

His views on institutional racism in sport and society in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in the United States, stirred emotions wide and far. This, Mikey followed up with his book about racism, called Why We Kneel, How We Rise. The book also features several other famous athletes such as Usain Bolt, Naomi Osaka and Michael Johnson.

His spontaneous eloquence won him widespread acclaim including a Royal Television Society award.

So as we say thanks to Michael Anthony Holding for his phenomenal contribution to cricket as one the fastest and deadliest bowlers the game has seen and one of the greatest commentators on the game, we wish him well in retirement but hope that we will still hear from him, even occasionally.”

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