ST?JOHN’S – Leg-spinner?Anthony Martin bowled the West Indies to a consolation victory in the fourth Digicel One-day International as India, who had already clinched the five-match series with three straight wins, suffered a batting collapse at the Vivian Richards Stadium yesterday.
Playing before his home crowd, Antiguan Martin took four for 35 in his ten overs and pacer Andre Russell snared three wickets for just 16 runs as India, chasing the Windies’ respectable total of 249 for eight, slumped from 110 for four to 146 all out in just 39 overs.
Earlier, Trinidadians Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard hit half-centuries, despite the West Indies also enduring a mid-innings slide against an Indian team, which had an unassailable 3-0 lead and rested several key players.
West Indies’ skipper Darren Sammy was happy with his side’s response and believes they are getting better all the time.
“We did a lot more things better in this game. Throughout this series we have been improving, and in this game, we put a decent target of 250 on the board,” Sammy said after the victory.
“The bowlers throughout the series have been collecting wickets early, and this time we were in a similar situation, and handled it differently.
“We had a different mindset, and the guys put the ball in the right areas and got the wickets we needed to complete a victory,” he noted.
Simmons hit three sixes on his way to a knock of 67 from 78 balls but the opener saw wickets tumble steadily at the other end before he was run out going for a suicidal single.
The Windies were in trouble at 103 for five but rallied to post a defendable target as Pollard hit 70 from 72 balls in a 96-run partnership for the sixth wicket with wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh to pull the West Indies out of trouble.
After an uncertain start, Pollard struck Manoj Tiwary for a straight six and a four in the 32nd over and also started picking up singles while rotating the strike with Baugh. There was a moment when Baugh should have been run out for 17, running casually with his bat in the air, but the umpire chose not to look at the replays.
That was not the first mistake Jamaican umpire Norman Malcolm made, nor was it the last. His leg before wicket verdict against Marlon Samuels was dodgy as television replays showed the ball going over the stumps. There were also a couple of wides and Malcolm also denied India another run-out in the last over of the innings.
It was Pollard’s best innings against a Test-playing side as the big shots, which were aimed only down the ground and the singles were mixed well. There was also a deft late-cut as he resisted the urge to hit every delivery into the stands. He went after leg-spinner Amit Mishra only when he bowled flat but having put India under pressure, Pollard holed out in the first over of the batting Powerplay that begun in the 44th over.
That didn’t stall the momentum, though, as Russell continued with his clean big striking, hitting three fours and a six to help West Indies get 57 in the Powerplay.
Having reached their best score of the season, fast bowlers Kemar Roach and Russell bowled aggressively in an all-out attack against the inexperienced Indian top order but it was Sammy who accounted for the opening batsmen.
Baugh also turned in a lively display behind the stumps as he took two early catches as well as stumping Virat Kolhi for 22 and last man Ishant Sharma. Rohit Sharma provided some resistance with a breezy 39 from 47 balls before his innings came to an end when he holed out to Darren Bravo off Martin.
And the Indians then lost their last three wickets for eight runs as Martin wrapped up the tail to claim the man of the match award.
Captain Suresh Raina admitted his side had batted poorly.
“Our shot selection was really wrong. We lost our shape, and we did not have any partnerships,” he said. (BBC?SPORT/EZS)
