Kieron Pollard and Devon Smith power West Indies to 275

West Indies v Ireland, Group B, World Cup 2011, Mohali

Pollard and Smith power West Indies to 275

Kieron Pollard and Devon Smith

Kieron Pollard played another innings that will quell the criticism over his lack of performances at the international level, bludgeoning a limited Ireland attack in Mohali to set up a formidable total. His typically powerful 94 overshadowed a sedate maiden century for opener Devon Smith, who set the stage for the late onslaught with a measured 89-run opening stand alongside Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The decision to replace the injured Chris Gayle with bowling allrounder Andre Russell meant West Indies had a long tail, and no batsman of note below No. 5. Consequently, Ireland would have been the happier side when West Indies crawled to 142 for 3 by the 35th over. The batsmen gambled by taking the batting Powerplay then; a wicket at that stage could have scuppered the innings, but Ireland couldn't make the vital breakthrough and were helpless as the power of Pollard helped ransack 55 runs in five overs to shift the balance of the game.

Ireland had two gilt-edged chances to remove Pollard in the Powerplay: John Mooney narrowly missed a direct hit from square leg when Pollard had given up hope of making his ground in the 37th over, and Gary Wilson shelled a catch at long-on after hurtling across to get to a skier in the next over.

Over the next 45 minutes Pollard made them regret those misses with his now familiar brand of hitting, mainly muscling boundaries in the arc between long-on and midwicket. Two times Kevin O'Brien landed the ball on a length, two times it was effortlessly dispatched over the ropes. Boyd Rankin, Ireland's quickest, was brought in to handcuff Pollard, but his short ball was walloped to midwicket and an attempted yorker was pummeled down the ground. Rankin was rattled by the ferocity of the second hit, muttering to himself as his fractional mistake was punished.

A drive to midwicket in the 42nd over brought up Pollard's half-century in 35 balls - celebrated by kissing an arm band bearing the injured allrounder Dwayne Bravo's number - but he was just warming up. The wickets tumbled at the other end, but there was no stopping Pollard, who capped a frenzy of hitting with a 20 runs of an O'Brien over, which included a monstrous one-handed six that easily sailed over deep midwicket.

O'Brien had taken four wickets for the first time in his one-day career, but the Pollard assault ruined his figures. Pollard was also in line for the second quickest World Cup hundred -after O'Brien's epic against England last month - but fell attempting a six over long-off.