ST GEORGE’S (Grenada), June 2: An unbeaten 103 by Wavell Hinds helped blast the West Indies to a morale-boosting third straight win over Australia on Sunday, although the One-day International series ended 4-3 in favour of the tourists (partly reported in Monday’s edition).

The West Indies scored 249 for one in 43.3 overs for a nine-wicket victory, overtaking Australia’s 247 for eight in 50 overs.

Hinds earned the adulation of the Queen’s Park Stadium crowd by scoring back-to-back match-winning centuries. His unbeaten 125 on Friday carried the West Indies to a three-wicket win.

Hinds and Chris Gayle weathered an early salvo of pace bowling by Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie to forge an opening stand of 116.

Gayle was bowled by Andrew Symonds for 60, but Brian Lara ensured that the innings lost none of its momentum as he provided the ideal foil for Hinds.

The West Indies skipper then wrapped up the game in dramatic fashion with three successive sixes off Darren Lehmann, who conceded 27 off nine balls.

Lehmann’s ineptitude with the ball was a mirror image of his performance with the bat, as his resolute innings of 107 had led the tourists to a competitive total.

“I wasn’t trying to prove a point. It was there to go so I played the shots,” Lara said of his hat trick of sixes that took him to 75.

Man-of-the-Match Gayle had earlier set the tone with impressive bowling figures of five for 46.

He then made his own scoring intentions clear in the second over with a fierce drive that had the square point umpire scurrying for cover.

Gillespie sent a string of bouncers fizzing past the batsmen’s ears, but could not prevent Gayle and Hinds from settling into a high-scoring groove.

McGrath, on the other hand, was lacking his customary fire as the world champions’ punishing schedule began to take its toll.

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting was unable to take the field after taking a Mervyn Dillon delivery on the hip during his abbreviated two-run innings.

The world champions had been given a fighting chance when Lehmann and Symonds manufactured a century partnership after an early collapse.

The performance vindicated Brian Lara’s decision to use spin on a wicket he said “seemed rather sticky”.

“I’m very happy with this performance,” Lara said. “We told ourselves that we would treat the last three games as a different series and we met all our targets.”

Ponting dismissed suggestions that the sudden switch from a record 21-match winning streak to a three-match losing streak was the result of tiredness.

“Its been disappointing and leaves a sour taste in the mouth on what has been a pretty good tour,” he said.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA:

A.C. Gilchrist b Samuels 5

M.L. Hayden c Bernard b Dillon 8

R.T. Ponting not out 2

D.S. Lehmann c Samuels b Gayle 107

A. Symonds c Hinds b Gayle 48

M.J. Clarke st Jacobs b Gayle 1

I.J. Harvey run out 4

G.B. Hogg b Gayle 53

B. Lee c Samuels b Gayle 4

J.N. Gillespie not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-10, NB-2) 15

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 247

FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-18, 3-125, 4-127, 5-133, 6-228, 7-246, 8-246.

DID NOT BAT: G.D. McGrath.

BOWLING: Samuels 7-0-39-1 (3w); Dillon 10-0-46-1 (1nb, 1w); Collymore 9-0-39-0 (1w); Sarwan 4-1-22-0 (1w); Drakes 10-0-52-0 (1nb); Gayle 10-0-46-5 (2w).

WEST INDIES:

C.H. Gayle b Symonds 60

W.W. Hinds not out 103

B.C. Lara not out 75

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-7, NB-2) 11

TOTAL (for one wkt, 43.3 overs) 249

FALL OF WKT: 1-116.

DID NOT BAT: R.R. Sarwan, M.N. Samuels, R.L. Powell, R.D. Jacobs, D.E. Bernard, V.C. Drakes, M. Dillon, C.D. Collymore.

BOWLING: Lee 6-0-36-0 (1nb); Gillespie 10-1-41-0 (2w); McGrath 6-0-29-0; Symonds 5-0-36-1 (1w); Hogg 10-0-47-0 (1nb, 2w); Harvey 5-0-31-0 (1w); Lehmann 1.3-0-27-0.

RESULT: West Indies won by nine wickets. Australia win series 4-3.

UMPIRES: B. Doctrove (West Indies) and R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: E.A. Nicholls (West Indies).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Chris Gayle.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Wavell Hinds.

FIRST MATCH: Kingston, Australia won by two runs.

SECOND MATCH: Kingston, Australia won by eight wickets.

THIRD MATCH: Castries, Australia won by 25 runs.

FOURTH MATCH: Port-of-Spain, Australia won by 67 runs.

FIFTH MATCH: Port-of-Spain, West Indies won by 39 runs.

SIXTH MATCH: St George’s, West Indies won by three wickets.—Reuters