Guyanese Online

Pollard returned with the ball to take 3-30 – the best figures of his T20 International career – while Sunil Narine again proved too good for the Aussies with figures of 4-0-19-2. The magnificent allround performance earned Pollard the Man-of-the-Match award.

“We knew we had to come here and try to salvage something from the tour so the commitment was always there and the fight was there as well. We played as a team and came away with an excellent result,” said the 25-year-old Pollard.

“We went about doing what we needed to do. It is the shortest format of the game so you always expect it to be exciting, and we brought that excitement and entertainment with us tonight and put on a display for the crowd who came out to watch us.”

Pollard was one of the leading players in the West Indies team which won the ICC World T20 Championship in Sri Lanka last year. In recent matches he has hit top form – with an unbeaten century in the fourth ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground followed by 45 in the fifth ODI at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He said Wednesday’s performance was needed after they endured a tough series in the 50-over format.

“It was good to get a win in the version of the game where we are the champions of the world. We lost the One-Dayers but everyone was still upbeat. We didn’t let the defeats get us down too much…we just knew we had to rebound and look to be dominant in tonight’s game. It was a matter of keeping our heads up and going out and ‘representing’ for West Indies cricket,” Pollard said.

“This match was good for me as I was able to do the job with bat and ball. No matter what job I’m called on to perform for the team I’m always up for it,” he said, adding: “I was pleased with my bowling. I have not been doing a lot of bowling recently, so I just tried to show what I can do…just do what the team needed at that particular point and time.”

The West Indies will depart from Australia on Thursday afternoon and are due to arrive back in the Caribbean on Friday afternoon.

SCOREBOARD

WEST INDIES (20 overs maximum)

C. Gayle c Coulter-Nile b Hazlewood 8
J. Charles b Coulter-Nile 57
D.M. Bravo run out (McKay/Haddin) 32
K. Pollard c Marsh b Faulkner 26
D.J. Bravo b Faulkner 13
A. Russell not out 23
*D. Sammy c Marsh b Faulkner 20
N. Deonarine not out 6
Extras (lb4, w2) 6
TOTAL (6 wkts, 20 overs) 191

+D. Thomas, S. Narine, T. Best did not bat

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Gayle, 1.3 overs); 2-99 (Charles, 10.6); 3-106 (D.M. Bravo, 12.2); 4-139 (Pollard, 16.1); 5-141 (D.J. Bravo, 16.3); 6-172 (Sammy, 18.4)

Bowling: McKay 4-0-44-0; Hazlewood 4-0-36-1; Faulkner 4-0-28-3 (w1); Coulter-Nile 4-0-36-1 (w1); Cutting 4-0-43-0

AUSTRALIA (target: 192 off 20 overs)

A. Finch b Sammy 4
S. Marsh run out (Best/ Thomas) 21
A. Voges run out (Thomas) 51
G. Bailey c Deonarine b Pollard 15
B. Rohrer c Deonarine b Pollard 16
B. Haddin c Russell b Pollard 22
J. Faulkner c Sammy b Pollard 7
B. Cutting st Thomas b Narine 0
N. Coulter-Nile not out 16
C. McKay not out 6
Extras (b1, lb 2, w3) 6
TOTAL (8 wkts, 20 overs) 164

J. Hazlewood did not bat

Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Finch, 1.1 overs); 2-79 (Marsh, 9.4); 3-82 (Voges, 10.1); 4-96 (Bailey, 11.5); 5-121 (Haddin, 14.3); 6-139 (Faulkner, 16.3); 7-139 (Rohrer, 16.4); 8-141 (Cutting, 17.1)

Bowling: Best 3-0-19-0 (w2); Sammy 3-0-30-1 (w1); Narine 4-0-19-2; Russell 1-0-9-0; Deonarine 3-0-37-0; D.J. Bravo 2-0-17-0; Pollard 4-0-30-3

Result: West Indies won by 27 runs
Series: West Indies win one-off T20I
Toss: West Indies

Man-of-the-match: K. Pollard (West Indies)

Umpires: P. Reiffel, J. Ward
TV umpire: S. Fry
Match referee: R. Madugalle (Sri Lanka)
Reserve umpire: D. Mealey