Cricket-Windies skipper Holder set for Northamptonshire stint

West Indies skipper Jason Holder will join Northamptonshire for the start of the county season in a move that will give the all-rounder a chance to get used to conditions ahead of this year's World Cup in England and Wales. Holder will be available for Northamptonshire's opening two County Championship matches in April against Middlesex and Glamorgan as well as six One-Day Cup games.

"England is somewhere I've wanted to play for a long time and I'm looking forward to the experience of county cricket and testing myself in different conditions," Holder, the world's top-ranked test all-rounder, said in a statement. Holder's move is subject to a no-objection certificate being issued by Cricket West Indies as they look to safeguard one of their main players before the 50-over World Cup starting in May.

Holder has helped West Indies take a 2-0 lead in their ongoing three-match series against England, scoring an unbeaten 202 in the opening test and claiming a total of seven wickets. The 27-year-old will miss the third test, starting in St Lucia on Saturday, as he has been banned by the International Cricket Council for his team's slow over rate in last week's second test, which the hosts won by 10 wickets. (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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