4th Quarter-Final: New Zealand v West Indies at Wellington

Former West Indies captain Brian Lara is being patriotic in picking the West Indies to reach the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals, but says his prediction is also realistic.

New Zealand will start heavy favourites in the quarter-final match in Wellington on friday, given current form and past history. Lara's prediction is based on his confidence in Jason Holder's leadership and the talent within the West Indies squad.

The former captain argues though that given Dwayne Smith's struggles, Johnson Charles should open alongside Chris Gayle. Lara also says the team needs a technically competent batsman at number three and recommends test captain Denesh Ramdin.

NAPIER, New Zealand (CMC) – Skipper Jason Holder has dismissed reports of a rift in the West Indies team as he led his side to a six wicket victory over United Arab Emirates and a quarter-final berth in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

Holder appeared to be involved in an on-field argument with former captain Darren Sammy during their must-win final Pool B match against the United Arab Emirates in Napier.

Sammy was brought on to try to break  what turned out to be a century  partnership between Nasir Aziz and Amjad Javed and was not happy when taken out of the attack after just one over that yielded four runs.

Sammy and Holder appeared to 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.

Holder has rejected talk of problems and said the two-time champions were looking forward to a quarter-final against unbeaten New Zealand in Wellington on March 21.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more from the guys,” he said.

“It was a must-win game and we had to win by a big margin and the way the guys came out and played cricket I can’t ask for much more”.

The Black Caps are more than comfortable to be back on a happy hunting ground as they count down to their World Cup quarter-final on Saturday against the West Indies.

New Zealand have won 15 of 22 one-day internationals in the capital and last time, of course, they crushed England by eight wickets during pool play.

Paceman Tim Southee stole the show with a haul of 7-33 which helped England to be all out for 123.

Coach Mike Hesson believes that with it having been a recent performance, it should put Southee in the right frame of mind.

"I think when you go out on a ground where you've performed well you do feel good about it he did have a great rhythm that day the ball swung beautifully for him.

The West Indies team must change their attitude if they want to win the ICC Cricket World Cup. So says former fast bowler and legend Michael Holding as the team braved some chilly weather here ahead of their quarterfinal clash with New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium Friday night (T&T time).

The match has already been sold out with a crowd of 34,500 strong Kiwis and Holding believes that the West Indies can win but after seeing them this tournament there is one major problem they must fix.

“Attitude! I would love to see an improvement in that regard. As I said they have a responsibility to the people in the Caribbean and I’ll repeat -- if you don’t enjoy working for your employers, move on! Find a new employer. There are other options open today.

“West Indies Cricket Board is not the only employer available but there are also repercussions for that. West Indies Cricket Board needs to think about that. A lot of these guys are using the WICB to make a name for themselves and move on because they’re not happy. Make them happy,” said Holding who is working here as an analyst for ESPN.

Commentators and observes thought the West Indies looked rather flat in their efforts during the last match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who pulled themselves around to set the regional side a victory target of 175 after being 46/6. It’s a position that no doubt the unbeaten New Zealanders would take advantage of if they are in a similar situation, which Holding has warned.


“(Against the UAE) they got four early wickets, had them 46/6, which was a fantastic position, and then when Javed and Aziz had that partnership going they sort of lost interest. They were just waiting on things to just happen instead of going out there and making them happen. I’m not too sure they learnt too much from this game.”

Even the level-headed Darren Sammy was seen in an exchange with captain Jason Holder during the 32nd over of the UAE’s innings that prompted on air analyst Russell Arnold and Sean Pollock to say: “oh, no, this doesn’t look good.”

After the match, Holder directly spoke about the incident and said “it was just a little banter.”

“It probably didn’t look the way it seemed, but we just had a little banter,” said Holder. “We are all good. Darren and I are very good mates. We just had a little tussle there and that’s that. It was in the heat of the moment, it was a crucial game but we shook hands at the end of the day and we still smiled together,” explained the 23-year-old captain.

Sammy concurred with this by saying that Holder continues to have the full support of the team and he believes he is blossoming beautifully into a very mature captain.

The West Indies first, full practice session will take place this afternoon with all members expected to be fully fit for Saturday’s match.

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