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A powerful display of brutal hitting from Kieron Pollard and an equally magical display of pace bowling from Kemar Roach saw the once mighty West Indies impose themselves on young pretenders Netherlands courtesy of a crushing 215 run win at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Monday. Pollard came into bat at the perfect time for the West Indies after Chris Gayle (80), Devon Smith (53) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (49) had built an ideal platform, and excited the sparse crowd with a 27 ball innings of 60 to take the Carribean Kings to a massive 330 from their 50 overs. Kemar Roach then ripped through the Dutch top and lower order to pick up 6-27, including a hat-trick to knock over the minnows for just 115 in their reply.

Netherlands won the toss and surprisingly decided to field on a pitch which was expected to slow down as the day passed. The West Indian openers started well. With Devon Smith being served up some very hittable deliveries, it was the rookie left-hander who was doing the bulk of the attacking, while senior partner Chris Gayle took the opportunity to play himself in. But Gayle came into his own hitting three boundaries in an over from Ryan ten Doeschate as the Windies accelerate at a rapid pace in the early goings.

Smith raced to fifty and looked to continue in pursuit of the three figures but got out edging the ball through to the wicket keeper off Bernard Loots. Darren Bravo came in to join Gayle and looked good in the early exchanges, hitting a couple of sixes on his way to 30 but fell trying to clear the boundary a third time.

Ramnaresh Sarwan was the next man in, as the West Indies started to think of accelerating. They took the batting power play and lost Gayle straight away, just as he was threatening to explode. The fan favourite made a sedate 80 from 110 balls, but will be more effective in the tournament ahead having spent some handy time out in the middle. Gayle was replaced by another favourite, Kieron Pollard, who was promoted up the order today and showed the world why bowlers around the world fear him. He smashed the bowling all round the park, hitting 4 huge sixes as well. Sarwan fell one short of fifty as Pollard started running short of partners, but he continued his blistering form. Pollard reached fifty of just 23 balls, the fastest of this World Cup. Boundaries from Devon Thomas and Nikita Miller took West Indies to 330 after Pollard was dismissed.

The left arm spinner Pieter Seelar was the pick of the bowlers picking up 3 wickets conceding just 45 runs in his ten overs. All other bowlers conceded runs at more than six an over. Peter Borren, the Netherlands skipper, was disappointing again with his captaincy as his team leaked runs on a pitch on which the West Indies were bowled out for 222 a few days back.

The West Indies were all over Netherlands in the second session. Kemar Roach and Sulieman Benn opened the bowling once again, and picked up wickets in a bunch at the top to leave the Dutch at 36 for 5. Roach picked up two wickets, while Benn got three, including the one that mattered the most, of England game centurion Ryan ten Doeschate.

Tom Cooper came in at no.3 and kept his end up. He virtually batted through the innings and remained unbeaten on 55 as wickets fell around him. West Indian captain Darren Sammy picked up the wicket of his counterpart Borren.

Cooper found a rare willing partner in Mudassar Bukhari, and the pair added 57 runs for the 7th wicket before Kemar Roach was recalled for a second spell. The speed merchant dismissed Bukhari for 24 and then picked up the first hat-trick of this edition of the World Cup by cleaning up the tail with consecutive deliveries to wrap up the innings for just 115.

The Dutch will be bitterly disappointed with their performance tonight, and are now virtually out of the running for a quarter-final berth. For the West Indies though, not only was this a vital win that is likely to kick-start their World Cup campaign, but the manner of the win will give them confidence going forward into their massive game against Bangladesh in Mirpur on Friday.

Netherlands meanwhile have even more difficult opposition to contend with when they meet South Africa at the PCA Stadium in Mohali on Thursday.

Teams:

West Indies: D Smith, C Gayle, DM Bravo, R Sarwan, K Pollard, D Sammy(c), S Chanderpaul, D Thomas (wk), N Miller, K Roach, S Benn

Netherlands: A Kervezee, W Baressi (wk), T Cooper, R ten Doeschate, B Zuiderant, T de Grooth, P Borren (c), M Bukhari, P Seelar, B Loots, B Westdjik

Mini Scorecard

West Indies 330/8 in 50 overs (6.6 runs per over)
C Gayle 80(110) P Seelar 3-45
K Pollard 60(27) M Bukhari 2-65

Netherlands 115 all out in 31.3 overs (3.65 runs per over)
Tom Cooper 55(72) K Roach 6-27
Mudassar Bukhari 24(42) Benn 3-29

West Indies win by 215 runs

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File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20