West Indies register easy win over Dutch as Roach celebrates hattrick

He might have shot to fame by forcing Ricky Ponting to retire hurt in the 2009 Perth Test, but Kemar Roach showed that he had more to him when he claimed the first hattrick of the ongoing World Cup, as West Indies demolished the Netherlands by 215 runs in their Group B encounter at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Monday.

The Barbadian claimed Peter Seelaar, Bernard Loots and Berend Westdjik off successive balls in his ninth over to bring the one-sided contest to an end. Roach had the inexperienced Dutch batsmen all at sea against his blistering pace as he finished with six wickets giving away just 27 runs. Chasing West Indies’ total of 330 for eight – the highest total ever registered at the Kotla — the minnows were shot out for 115 — the lowest-ever at the venue.

“It felt nice to shut the critics who had often questioned my accuracy,” the paceman said after the match. It was a day even Kieron Pollard would cherish. Having till now excelled only on the twenty20 stage, he bulldozed the Netherlands attack to score 60 runs off just 26 balls. Coming in to bat at No. 5 gave him the opportunity to make a difference.

The West Indians looked in complete control when they came on to bowl and Roach started the demolition, removing opener Wesley Barresi (0) in the second over of the innings – Chris Gayle’s huge palms calmly gobbling up the white Kookaburra at first slip.

Although Tom Cooper (unbeaten on 55) tried his best, his partners didn’t respond. Earlier winning the toss, Dutch captain Peter Borren put West Indies in on a belter and Gayle and Devon Smith took full advantage with the latter going after the bowling with Gayle playing second fiddle.

Gayle used his experience and rotated the strike before getting into his groove. Such was his determination that the otherwise disdainful Gayle hit his first boundary in the 10th over. But he followed it up with two more as West Indies reached 63 for no loss at the end of the first powerplay. With Gayle back in some form, the Netherlands paid heavily for taking the bowling powerplay as the Jamaican immediately plundered 11 runs of the 11th over. It took a fine delivery from Bernard Loots to catch the outside edge of Smith’s (53) bat and the opener was well caught by keeper Barresi. The score read 100 for one.

If the Netherlands bowlers thought that it could restrict the scoring, they were in for a rude shock as Darren Bravo played the perfect foil for Gayle. But Bravo (30) perished against the run of play, well caught at long-on by Alexei Kervezee, as he tried to hit leftarm spinner Pieter Seelaar out of the ground. Just one short of the 8,000-run mark, Gayle (80) tried to accelerate further, but his lofted shot landed in the hands of Kervezee at long-off off Ryan de Doeschate’s bowling. But Pollard then proceeded to cane the Dutch bowlers, as the experienced Ramnaresh Sarwan played his part well. The duo put on a blistering 65 for the fourth wicket at an astonishing rate of 11.14 runs per over.