Michael Holding was a West Indian cricketer. He was known as 'Whispering Death' due to his quiet approach to the bowling crease. He was an outstanding athlete as a teenager and used his skills from the 400 metres on the cricket pitch, with one of the longest run-ups of any bowler. His bowling was very quick and he used his great height to generate large amounts of bounce off the pitch. He is now a broadcaster and often appears on Sky Sport 's cricket coverage in the UK.

Holding was the bowler in what is often described as "the greatest over in test history", which he bowled in 1981 in Bridgetown to English batsman Geoff Boycott. The first five balls increased in pace, causing Boycott to have to react very rapidly to avoid being hit. The final ball saw Boycott clean bowled, to the great delight of the crowd.

Holding is partly responsible for one of the more well-known commentary gaffes in cricket history. During a test match between the West Indies and England, Holding was to bowl to English player Peter Willey . The commentator at the time, Brian Johnston, described the action, quite accurately, as "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey". This was, however, an inadvertent double entendre as the word "willy" is English slang for a penis.