No rift in West Indies team, says Holder

West Indies skipper Jason Holder dismissed talk of a rift in the ranks on Sunday as he led his side to a World Cup quarterfinal against New Zealand.

Holder, a surprise choice to lead the West Indies to the World Cup, appeared to be involved in an on-field argument with former captain Darren Sammy during their must-win final Pool B match against UAE in Napier.

The West Indies’ eventual six-wicket victory all but propelled them into the knock-out phase, with only an unlikely tie in the final match between Pakistan and Ireland in Adelaide able to derail them. The mission seemed in the bag when Holder won the toss, put UAE into bat and rapidly reduced them to 46-6 before Nasir Aziz and Amjad Javed staged a 107-run stand. Sammy was brought on to try to break the partnership with the score at 108-6 after 30 overs and was not happy when taken out of the attack after just one over that yielded four runs. Sammy and Holder appeared have strong words which Holder later played down as “a little banter on the field” saying they wanted to have some fun but “unfortunately it probably didn’t look that way.”

He later conceded they “had a little tussle there. It’s just part of the game. At the end of the day we shake hands and still smile together.” Sammy later posted a picture on Instagram of him enjoying a beer with Holder in the locker room although his conciliatory smile was in stark contrast to his captain’s stony-faced expression.