St Lucia witnessed some of the best power-hitting in recent history as Kieron Pollard's 69-ball century set up the West Indies' 42-run win over Australia in the fourth ODI.

Pollard's 102 from 70 balls helped the hosts to post a mammoth 294 for seven - the highest-ever score at the Beausejour Cricket Ground - and then the bowlers backed him up as they dismissed the visitors for 252 in 46.3 overs.

The plaudits though will certainly go to Pollard who took no prisoners as he hammered five fours and eight sixes in his innings. He brought up his second ODI ton with a six over the midwicket fence.

There were also contributions from Adrian Barath at the top of the order as well as all-rounders Andre Russell and Darren Sammy.

The recalled Barath, who hit brisk 41 from 31, was particularly severe on anything wide from the fast bowlers early on.

However, the momentum shifted in favour of the Australians once he edged Clint McKay to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade. Suddenly Johnson Charles and Marlon Samuels found singles hard to come by.

Samuels was next to go for a pedestrian 11 from 41 balls after he was caught behind off Brett Lee's bowling. Australia kept tightening the screws and Xavier Doherty put them well and truly on top with two wickets in two balls as he removed Charles (37 from 62 balls) and Dwayne Bravo.

Darren Bravo also struggled with the bat but once he departed, Pollard and Russell set the ground alight with a magnificent 94-run partnership.

They used the batting Powerplay to get going and just carried on once the fielding restrictions were over. Pollard, in particular, was impressive as he never tried to go too hard after the ball, instead hitting proper cricketing shots.

Russell, 34 from 32 balls, hit the occasional boundary but was more than happy to turn over the strike to the more experienced Pollard.

Skipper Sammy carried on the attack after Russell was caught at cover and smashed 16 runs from the final three balls to finish with 31 from 13 balls. All in all, the Windies hit 145 runs in the last 12 overs.

Australia's chase didn't get off to the best of starts as David Warner skied Dwayne Bravo in the second over. Shane Watson hit a couple of sixes but Sammy removed him as well as Peter Forrest in the space of two overs to put the visitors under pressure.

George Bailey and Michael Hussey also had starts, but they couldn't kick on as some hostile bowling from Russell saw them depart in the space of two balls.

Hero of the hour Pollard came into the attack and got rid of Matthew Wade after he shared 67-run partnership with David Hussey.

The game, though, was far from over as David Hussey hammered 57 from 54 balls. His cameo was eventually ended when he missed a straight one from yorker, but Brett Lee carried on the good work and smashed five fours and five sixes on the way to a career-best 59 from 58 balls.

However, the fast bowler couldn't quite pull off a miracle win as he was the final man out after he hit Roach to long-on.

The defeat means Australia have to win the final ODI on Sunday to square the five-match series 2-2.

Cricket 365