West Indies captain Jason Holder has admitted that it was tough for his team to try to defend against the batting heroics of New Zealand opener Martin Guptill in the World Cup quarter-final between the two teams.

Guptill hit an unbeaten 237 off 163 balls, a World Cup record, to help New Zealand to a 143-run victory in Wellington, and Holder revealed that he was ruing a missed opportunity when Guptill was dropped early in his innings.

After the match, the 23-year-old said: "It was tough to defend. We were in the game until the 35th over. Guptill played brilliantly.

"We put him down early. A set batsman on that pitch is dangerous. Having said that, we didn't bowl our yorkers well. It was a difficult challenge."

New Zealand progress through to the semi-finals where they will play South Africa.