West Indies flattered to deceive and Australia crushed them by 127 runs to win the DLF Cup yesterday at the Kinrara Academy Oval.
Chasing 241 to win from their allocation of 50 overs, Brian Lara's side were dismissed for a modest 113 in 34.2 overs in the final of the three-nation one-day international series.Ramnaresh Sarwan's 36 from 64 balls that contained five boundaries was the top score for West Indies.
Dwayne Smith gave Sarwan support with a typically cavalier, run-a-ball 30 that included a pair of fours and sixes. They added 50 for the seventh wicket in the most significant partnership of the innings.
Brett Lee was the pick of the Australian bowlers with four wickets for 24 runs from 8.2 overs that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award and made him a shoe-in for the Man-of-the-Series prize.
Nathan Bracken collected three for 16 from seven overs and Shane Watson snared two for 30 from six overs.
Immediate setback
Apart from Sarwan and Smith, no other West Indies batsman passed 20, after they suffered an immediate setback, when opener Chris Gayle was adjudged lbw to Lee for a duck with the first ball of the innings.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul gifted his wicket to mid-on for 12, when he mistimed and flicked off Bracken in the eighth over.
Runako Morton laboured over 31 balls before Bracken gained an lbw verdict to put him out of his misery for a duck to leave West Indies 20 for three.
As always, Lara's was the key wicket, and Australia gained his scalp fortuitously, when he was dubiously caught behind off Bracken for five in the 16th over.
Television replays clearly showed that umpire Mark Benson erred with his decision, since the West Indies captain's bat clipped his pad and not the ball when he essayed a drive at a well-pitched ball moving away.
Watson claimed the wickets of Dwayne Bravo caught at mid-wicket for eight miscuing a hook and Wavell Hinds comprehensively beaten and bowled for a five-ball duck in the space of five balls in the 22nd over to leave West Indies 55 for five.
Smith joined Sarwan and curbed his natural instincts for the most part, although he struck a towering six over mid-wicket off Andrew Symonds that sailed out of the ground, and crunched a short-ball from Watson in the same direction deep into the stands.
Passenger
Sarwan was a passenger for most of their partnership, although a silky drive through extra cover off Watson for a boundary was quite memorable.
He was run out however, backing up too far, and failing to beat Australia captain Ricky Ponting's throw from mid-wicket to the bowler's end.
His dismissal in the 31st over exposed the tail and Ponting did not think twice before bringing Lee back to mop things up - which he did with aplomb - as West Indies lost their last three wickets for one run in the space of 14 balls.
Earlier, Australia reached 240 for six from their allocation of 50 overs, after choosing to bat on a hard, true pitch under overcast skies.
Sarwan and Ian Bradshaw were the pick of the West Indies' bowlers with two wickets for 21 runs from four overs and two for 30 from 10 overs respectively.
Symonds and Damien Martyn were joint top-scorers for the Aussies, and added 73 for the fourth wicket.
