Holder holding out hope against Australia

Jason Holder is holding out hope of a West Indies turnaround in form ahead of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

Windies captain Holder was helpless as his team capitulated around him in the first Test in Hobart, in which his side lost by an innings and 212 runs.

The right-arm medium-fast bowler has failed to take a wicket during the current tour of Australia, including a weather-effected two-day draw with a Victoria XI.

But the skipper insists his team is close to turning their form around.

“I’m always upbeat. I think we’re just one good performance from turning things around,” Holder said on Thursday.

“That’s the way we have to look at it. We can’t be negative all the time.

“We’re just one good day from a turnaround.”

Holder acknowledged his team’s lack of discipline in the first Test, but said his team was in a good position in the first Test at 121-3 before Shan Marsh (182) and Adam Voges (269) smashed out a 449-run partnership.

“If we could be a lot more disciplined when we get new batsmen to the crease, especially those kinds of positions (3-121), then we’d be a lot better off,” Holder said.

“We have to be a lot more disciplined than we were in that first Test match.

“We have a very young side, very inexperienced, and we have some guys that we need to build a core of players around.”

The Windies have won just three Tests in the past five years, all of which have come against Bangladesh.

Their cause has not been helped by the withdrawal of players such as ex-Test captain and Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo, all of who have chosen to play Big Bash League over Test cricket