After leading his team by example, young West Indies captain Jason Holder was forced to defend the unity in the squad following a brief, on-field skirmish with former captain Darren Sammy.

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Holder’s unchanged spell of 10 overs at the top had reduced UAE to 46 for six, but a stubborn seventhwicket partnership of 107 runs between Amjad Javed and Nasir Aziz frustrated the West Indies, who were hoping for a quick finish to the match especially with threats of heavy rain later in the day.

Holder handed over the ball to Sammy in the 31st over, but decided to replace him with Dwayne Smith after just one over that yielded four runs. From the look of it, that did not go down well with Sammy, and they had brief heated moment.

Although Sammy was all right after that, and even posted a picture on his Instagram account of sharing a beverage with top-scorer Johnson Charles along with a message congratulating Holder on the win and his Man-of-the-Match effort.

When asked about the incident, Holder said: “We just had a little banter on the field. We just wanted to have some fun, and unfortunately it didn’t look the way it seemed, but we were all good. We are very good mates, and we just had a little tussle there.

“It’s just part of the game. You know, it’s not a crucial game, but at the end of the day, we still smile together.

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

Holder was delighted everything went according to the plan, including winning the toss, and of pushing the UAE on the backfoot by taking early wickets.

“Yeah, it was important for us. I always wanted to bowl first and try to bowl with UAE to get the runs as quickly as possible, and it just fell into place today,” said Holder, who finished with 4-27.

Holder was hoping Chris Gayle would be back for the quarter-final match, after he sat out yesterday with a sore back.

“Obviously, he’s a key player for us, and his fitness is key going into the quarter-final. I’m sure he will be up for it even if he is not a hundred percent. It’s an important game and he’s a big-game player, and you know what someone like him can do on big days.”