Holder's words of support for beleaguered Sutherland

Sixers match-winner Jason Holder has offered an empathetic word of support to beleaguered Renegades allrounder Will Sutherland following another dramatic KFC BBL climax at Metricon Stadium on Tuesday night.  

Thrown the ball by captain Aaron Finch with the task of defending 16 from the final over, 21-year-old Sutherland was undone by the red-hot blade of West Indies captain Holder, who hammered 2, 4, 4, 6 to put the Sixers into top spot and consign the Renegades to seventh with a fourth-straight defeat. 

Having first led the Windies as a 23-year-old, Holder understands a thing or two about expectation at a young age and the Caribbean superstar – whose three-match stint with the Sixers came to an end last night – could relate to the situation his fellow allrounder found himself in at the close of a thrilling contest. 

"When you're entrusted to bowl the last overs – the big overs of games – these things happen, so my encouragement for him is to keep his head up; there's still a long way left in the tournament for him personally, and for me it's good to finish off on this note," the 29-year-old said. 

"Trust me, you have those days and he'll have a few more of them, but the thing is just to (remember) the percentages – these are the tough situations to bowl in and these things are going to happen, and sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it goes against you."  

From the first ball of the final over, Sutherland executed what appeared to be a strategy to bowl full and wide, managing a dot ball, and while his next ball was also just about on the money, Holder carved it into the off side and scampered a two. From there, the right-arm paceman missed his lengths and Holder took advantage, hammering two fours over mid off before icing the game with a six over the same region.  

"I wasn't timing it as well as I'd like up front and it was a bit of a struggle midway but the positive thing was I kept my wicket intact and I was there at the end," said the Barbadian, whose unbeaten 33 came from just 18 balls.  

"He was bowling quite a few balls wide so his plan obviously was to hit the wide line and I guess if he had executed like he did the first ball, it's very hard to get the ball over mid off.  

"It's just about execution in the end, and I guess I got the better of him today. But I understand, he's a youngster and it happens in cricket. 

"You have to keep learning and he will definitely learn from this experience, and I give him all my support." 

Finch's decision to hand the ball to Sutherland for the final over was an interesting one in itself; the Renegades skipper had only used experienced off-spinner Mohammad Nabi for two overs (2-11), while Sutherland's previous over – the 18th – had included two attempted changeups that landed off the pitch.  

The skipper might well have been reluctant to give Holder an opportunity to take the long handle to the slow bowler turning the ball into the right-hander, though whatever the Australia white-ball captain's reasoning, his Windies counterpart suggested the bowler of choice could well have been immaterial. 

"At that stage of the innings it's a big gut call, and Finchy went with his gut and entrusted Will with the last over," Holder said. "On this occasion it didn't work, but he could've gone with Nabi and it still might not have worked. It happens in cricket … it was my day today and it was good to get another win." 

Renegades opener Shaun Marsh, whose 67 was the match's best score and also the left-hander's best since joining the Melbourne side at the beginning of BBL|09, said a downbeat changeroom had to collect itself before its New Year's Day clash with the second-placed Thunder at Metricon Stadium.  

"Will's all right … it's a team game and we're all disappointed," Marsh said. "The boys were pretty quiet in there, obviously it's a disappointing feeling. 

"Full credit to Jason Holder, he batted beautifully but hopefully we'll learn from it and move on quickly, we've got a game in a few days' time, so hopefully we can bounce back and get a win."