ST JOHN’S, Antigua CMC – Big-hitting Kieron Pollard finally came good and rookie leg-spinner Anthony Martin grabbed a four-wicket haul, as a gritty West Indies trounced India by 103 runs to earn a consolation victory in the fourth One-Day International here yesterday.
The powerful right-hander top-scored with 70, only his second half-century against a full ICC member side in 38 innings, to haul West Indies out of a now familiar slump and lift them to 249 for eight at the Vivian Richards Stadium.
Martin, who made his international debut at age 28 against Pakistan in April, then snatched four for 36 as India’s batting surprisingly collapsed in a heap for 146 off 39 overs.
The right-armer claimed the crucial wickets of top scorer Rohit Sharma (39), the dangerous Virat Kohli (22) and captain Suresh Raina (10), to engineer India’s terminal decline from a position of 82 for three in the 21st over.
West Indies were always in with a chance once Pollard, in tandem with the in-form Lendl Simmons (67) had pushed West Indies to their highest score of the series.
Pollard faced 72 balls and cracked six fours and two sixes in an innings that was crucial after West Indies plunged to 103 for five in the 27th over.
The 24-year-old Trinidadian, whose previous best against a top flight side was 62 against Australia in February last year, anchored a 96-run, sixth-wicket stand with wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh who again played responsibly for 39.
Pollard was joined in the rescue effort by Simmons, who got his second half-century in three innings, while flamboyant all-rounder Andre Russell got a cameo 25 from 14 balls with three fours and a six.
Yet again, however, West Indies’ batting failed to fire as Danza Hyatt (1), Ramnaresh Sarwan (1), Darren Bravo (15) and Marlon Samuels (8) all failed as seamer Praveen Kumar snatched three for 37 to lead the Indian attack while leg-spinner Amit Mishra was again among the wickets with two for 56.
Sent in to bat, West Indies lost Hyatt in the day’s second over when he parried a lifter from seamer Ishant Sharma to Manoj Tiwary at point with the score on three for one.
Sarwan then slashed his fourth delivery to Tiwary off Kumar at 12 for two in the fifth over, forcing Simmons and Bravo to mount a recovery in the form of a 53-run stand for the third wicket.
The left-handed Bravo hit two fours in his 36-ball stay but was never fluent and eventually holed out off Mishra at deep mid-wicket, giving Tiwary his third catch of the innings in the 16th over.
Samuels added 24 with Simmons but was unlucky to get an lbw decision from umpire Norman Malcolm at 89 for four, with replays showing the delivery from Mishra going over the top.
Simmons was in fine touch, facing 78 balls and striking three fours and three sixes, in another commanding innings where he played positively against both pace and spin and when he was run-out attempting a quick single, Pollard quickly took responsibility for the innings.
Surviving a streaky four to third man in gathering just nine from his first 16 balls, Pollard flourished with sixes off leg-spinners Mishra and Tiwary, and timely boundaries at key intervals.
Chasing runs in the power-play, however, he lifted off-spinner Ravi Ashwin to long-off at 199 for six in the 45th over but Baugh and Russell added a hasty 41 from 24 balls for the seventh wicket to keep up the tempo.
Opener Tiwary then survived 17 nervous balls before feathering a catch behind off captain Darren Sammy’s medium pace at 20 for one in the sixth over, as India’s run chase got off to a rocky start.
In contrast, his partner Parthiv Patel cruised to 26 from 32 balls but his innings was ended by a brilliant return catch by Sammy while Subramaniam Badrinath (12) gloved a short ball from pacer Russell for Baugh to take an equally dazzling one-handed catch, leaping at full stretch.
Kohli joined Sharma to add 20 and seemed to be building a match-winning partnership when Martin intervened, having the right-handed Kohli stumped, triggering a collapse that saw the next seven wickets tumble for 64 runs.

SCORECARD

WEST INDIES innings
L. Simmons run-out    67
D. Hyatt c Tiwary b I Sharma    1
R. Sarwan c Tiwary b Kumar    1
D. Bravo c Tiwary b Mishra    15
M. Samuels lbw b Mishra     8
K. Pollard c I. Sharma b Ashwin    70
C. Baugh c Kohli b Kumar    39
A. Russell c Kohli b Kumar    25
D. Sammy not out    1
K. Roach not out    4
Extras: (lb-7, w-8, nb-3)    18     
Total: (8 wickets, off 50 overs)    249
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-12, 3-65, 4-89, 5-103, 6-199, 7-240, 8-240. 
Bowling: Kumar 10-3-37-3, I Sharma 10-0 60 1, Ashwin 10-1-39-1, Mishra 10-3-56-2, Pathan 6-0-24-0, Tiwary 4-0-26-0.

INDIA innings
P. Patel c & b Sammy    26
M. Tiwary c wkp. Baugh b Sammy    2
V. Kohli  stp. Baugh b Martin     22
S. Badrinath c wkp. Baugh b Russell    12
R. Sharma c Bravo b Martin    39
S. Raina c Pollard b Martin.10
Y. Pathan c Roach b Simmons.1
R. Ashwin c Samuels b Russell.15
P. Kumar c Sammy b Russell.6 
A. Mishra not out.5
I. Sharma stp. Baugh b Martin    0
Extras: (b-4, lb-2, w-2)    8     
Total: (all out off 39 overs)    146
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-41, 3-62, 4-82, 5-111, 6-114, 7-124, 8-138, 9-145. 
Bowling: Roach 8-1-22-0, Sammy 9-0-43-2, Russell 7-0-16-3, Pollard 4-0-20-0, Martin 10-0-36-4, Simmons 1-0-3-1.
Result: West Indies won by 103 runs.
Series: India lead five-match series 3-1.
Man-of-the-Match: Anthony Martin.