Dwayne Bravo led the way as the West Indies secured a one-day series win over Zimbabwe with a four-wicket victory in the fourth match in St Vincent on Friday.
Zimbabwe were skittled for 141 in 48.2 overs and although the West Indies stumbled in their reply, they still had more than 15 overs to spare when they reached their target, Narsingh Deonarine scoring an unbeaten 32.
The victory at Arnos Vale gave Chris Gayle’s side an unassailable 3-1 lead with today’s final game of the series remaining.
A determined 42 from Elton Chigumbura was the only resistance put up by a disappointing Zimbabwean batting line-up after the seam of Bravo (4-21) and Ravi Rampaul (2-21) zipped through the upper order.
Gayle was in a hurry to get things over with for the hosts as he smashed 32 from 20 balls before he was caught in the deep by Graeme Cremer off Greg Lamb.
When Adrian Barath (25) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2) were removed it seemed the West Indies were going to make hard work of a simple job, but Deonarine, who has enjoyed a good series, saw them home.
The Zimbabweans had suffered an early setback, when Hamilton Masakadza was caught behind off Ravi Rampaul for a duck in the second over.
The dismissals of Tim Maruma and Brendan Taylor in the space of eight balls left them wobbling on 38 for three in the 10th over.
Maruma was caught low down at gully for 9 off Bravo and Taylor was spectacularly bowled for 1 with an off-cutter from Rampaul, which extracted the leg-stump.
Zimbabwe were then left reeling on 53 for five, when Vusimuzi Sibanda was run out for 11 in the 14th over, and three overs later Stuart Matsikenyri was also bowled for 1 with an off-cutter from Bravo.
The slide continued for Zimbabwe when Tatenda Taibu was caught at third man off Bravo for 14 in the 19th over and Greg Lamb made 12 before he gave a simple return catch to left-arm spinner Nikita Miller.
Chigumbura entered to halt the slide, but West Indies made sure the comeback story was not too memorable.
Both sides were unchanged from Wednesday’s match, which the West Indies won by 141 runs. Zimbabwe won the first match by two runs at the Guyana National Stadium, where the West Indies rebounded to win the second by four wickets.
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