West Indies down and out

GROS ISLET, St Lucia (CMC):

A listless West Indies crashed to a humiliating six-wicket loss to Australia, as their dreams of a semi-final spot in the World Twenty20 Champion-ship faded into oblivion yesterday.

Needing to win by 24 runs or more, West Indies were not even remotely close to their objective as they were rolled over for a disappointing 105 off 19 overs, before the Aussies marched to their target with 22 balls to spare.

For the full house at the Beausejour Cricket Stadium, the result was a huge disappointment after the regional squad had promised so much with their win over India by 14 runs in their second match of the Super Eights on Sunday.

Winning the toss was perhaps the brightest spot for the Windies as two balls later, the rut begun when talismanic captain Chris Gayle was comprehensively bowled by fast bowler Dirk Nannes off the second ball of the innings, after punching the first ball straight down the ground for four.

Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shiv Chanderpaul tried to counter-attack in a second wicket stand of 34 off 28 balls, but struggled to find the acceleration needed.

The right-handed Sarwan top-scored with 26 from 31 balls while his veteran left-handed partner got 24 from 18 with four fours.

Attempting to up the scoring rate, Chanderpaul held out to mid-on off left-arm seamer Mitchell Johnson (2-22) and Dwayne Bravo was run out for six in unfortunate circumstances when Sarwan's full-blooded drive deflected from Johnson's hand on to the stumps at 52 for three in the eighth over.

Horrible run

In the next over, with just four runs added, Narsingh Deonarine held out in the deep without scoring off leg-spinner Steve Smith (3-20) and Denesh Ramdin's horrible run with the bat continued when he squirted Johnson into Brad Haddin's gloves for one at 60 for five in the 10th over.

Big Kieron Pollard smashed a four over cover and a massive six over midwicket to raise West Indies hopes but his end, too, came swiftly when he was drawn out the crease by Smith and smartly stumped for 13 at 77 for six.

Darren Sammy's return catch off the very next ball was snared low down by Smith as West Indies continued to tumble and when Sarwan perished in the deep off off-spinner David Hussey (2-3) at 82 for eight in the 15th over, their hopes of a competitive total disappeared.

West Indies Innings

C. Gayle b Nannes 4S. Chanderpaul c D. Hussey b Johnson 24R. Sarwan c Warner b D. Hussey 26D. Bravo run out (Johnson) 6N. Deonarine c M. Hussey b Smith 0D. Ramdin c wk Haddin b Johnson 1K. Pollard st Haddin b Smith 13D. Sammy c and b Smith 0J. Taylor c Johnson b D. Hussey 3N. Miller not out 10S. Benn b Watson 9Extras: (4lb, 4w, 1nb) 9TOTAL: (all out) 105Overs: 19

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-39, 3-52, 4-56, 5-60, 6-77, 7-77, 8-82, 9-85, 10-105.

Bowling: D. Nannes 3-0-19-1 (1w), S. Tait 3-0-12-0 (1w), S. Watson 2-0-13-1, M. Johnson 4-0-22-2 (1nb, 2w), S. Smith 4-0-20-3, M. Clarke 2-0-12-0, D. Hussey 1-0-3-2.

Australia Innings

D. Warner c Gayle b Taylor 25S. Watson b Benn 5M. Clarke run out (Bravo) 16B. Haddin c Sammy b Gayle 42D. Hussey not out 10C. White not out 0Extras: (11w) 11TOTAL: (for four wickets) 109Overs: 16.2.

Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-31, 3-78, 4-104.

Did not bat: Michael Hussey, Steve Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes.

Bowling: Taylor 4-0-47-1 (6w), Benn 4-1-12-1, Miller 4-0-16-0, Bravo 1-0-11-0, Deonarine 2-0-15-0, Sammy 1-0-3-0, Gayle 0.2-0-5-1 (5w).

Result: Australia won by 6 wickets.

Man of the Match: Steve Smith.

Toss: West Indies.

Umpires: Billy Bowden, New Zealand, and Rudi Koertzen, South Africa.