Scorecard

An unbeaten 103 by Wavell Hinds helped blast the West Indies to a morale-boosting third straight win over Australia on Sunday, although the one-day series ended 4-3 in favour of the tourists.

The West Indies scored 249 for one in 43.3 overs for a nine-wicket victory, overtaking Australia's 247 for eight scored in 50 overs.

Hinds earned the adulation of the Queen's Park Stadium crowd by scoring back-to-back match-winning centuries. His unbeaten 125 on Friday carried the West Indies to a three-wicket win.

Hinds and Chris Gayle weathered an early salvo of pace bowling by Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie to forge an opening stand of 116.

Gayle was bowled by Andrew Symonds for 60, but Brian Lara ensured that the innings lost none of its momentum as he provided the ideal foil for Hinds.

The West Indies skipper then wrapped up the game in dramatic fashion with three successive sixes off Darren Lehmann, who conceded 27 off nine balls.

Lehmann's ineptitude with the ball was in total contrast to his performance with the bat, as his resolute innings of 107 had led the tourists to a competitive total.

"I wasn't trying to prove a point. It was there to go, so I played the shots," Lara said of his hat trick of sixes that took him to 75.

Man-of-the-match Gayle had earlier set the tone with impressive bowling figures of five for 46.

He then made his scoring intentions clear in the second over with a fierce drive that had the square point umpire scurrying for cover.

Gillespie sent a string of bouncers fizzing past the batsmen's ears, but could not prevent Gayle and Hinds from settling into a high-scoring groove.

McGrath, on the other hand, was lacking his customary fire as the world champions' punishing schedule began to take its toll.

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting was unable to take the field after taking a Mervyn Dillon delivery on the hip during his abbreviated two-run innings.

The world champions had been given a fighting chance when Lehmann and Symonds manufactured a century partnership after an early collapse.

Australia had lost openers Matthew Hayden (5) and Adam Gilchrist (8) early on and were struggling at 18 for two after seven overs.

Their plight worsened when Ponting was forced to leave the field.

Symonds (48) was eventually caught by Wavell Hinds trying to lift Gayle to the deep midwicket boundary after putting on 117 with Lehmann.

Michael Clarke and Ian Harvey both went cheaply before Brad Hogg (53) provided more resistance.

However, Gayle raised his game to earn his best bowling figures in a one-day international.

He had Lehmann caught by Samuels, and then dismissed Brett Lee (4) in the same manner before bowling Hogg on the penultimate ball of the innings.

The performance vindicated Brian Lara's decision to use spin on a wicket he described as 'rather sticky'.

"I'm very happy with this performance," Lara said. "We told ourselves that we would treat the last three games as a different series and we met all our targets."

Ponting dismissed suggestions that the sudden switch from a record 21-match winning streak to a three-match losing streak was the result of tiredness.

"It's been disappointing and leaves a sour taste in the mouth on what has been a pretty good tour," he said.