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New Delhi - Kemar Roach took a game-ending hat-trick as West Indies romped to a crushing victory over Netherlands by 215 runs at the World Cup on Monday.
Roach dismissed Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots and Berend Westdijk off successive balls at the start of the 32nd over to bowl the Dutch out for 115 in the Group B match. Fast bowler Roach finished with 6-27 in the latest lop-sided contest in the 2011 tournament.
Dutch captain Peter Borren's decision to put West Indies in to bat led to Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Devon Smith hitting half-centuries, steering their side to a daunting 330-8 in 50 overs at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
Gayle made 80, and shared a 100-run opening partnership with Devon Smith (53), and Pollard smashed 60 off 27 balls toward the end.
Roach's dramatic finish confirmed West Indies' first victory of the tournament following a seven-wicket loss to South Africa in its opener. He had Seelaar and Loots both lbw and then clean-bowled Westdijk for just a sixth hat-trick at World Cups.
Facing a huge total to win, Netherlands lost Wesley Barresi in the second over, caught at slip for Roach's first wicket, and never looked like coming close to challenging West Indies' score after that.
Tom Cooper provided the sole resistance with 55 not out, but his teammates crumbled around him as West Indies' bowlers completed the dominant performance started by the batsmen.
Spinner Sulieman Benn took 3-28 to back up Roach as Netherlands slumped to 56-6 and then lost its last four wickets for a mere two runs.
West Indies' opening batsman Gayle plundered seven fours and two sixes in his 110-ball innings, suddenly bursting into life from the 10th over with five fours in the space of nine balls.
Smith had begun with three fours off Mudassar Bukhari in the first over of the match and continued to stroke boundaries with ease to reach a half-century off just 45 balls.
He fell trying to play a cut shot to a ball from Bernard Loots that cramped him for space and he was caught off a thin edge by wicketkeeper Barresi.
Darren Bravo made a breezy 30 in a rapid 68-run partnership with Gayle, who was finally out when he lofted a straight drive to Kervezee in the outfield with the score on 196. He was dismissed one run short of becoming the fourth West Indian to reach 8,000 ODI runs.
Promoted to No. 5, big-hitting Indian Premier League player Pollard effortlessly flicked his second ball over the bowler's head for six, serving warning to the struggling Dutch bowlers of things to come.
He sent a flurry of fours flying through the offside before lashing another towering six straight down the ground and high into the stands.
Pollard passed 50 off just 23 balls, just three balls slower than the fastest half-century in World Cups, and added one final boundary before holing out to Ten Doeschate at long-on off Bukhari in the 48th.
His influence had taken West Indies from 196 to 312 in a little over 11 overs and a commanding position from where his side was never likely to lose.
