KANDY, CMC :
WEST Indies, inspired by accurate bowling and a swashbuckling knock of 85 by Chris Gayle easily defeated Zimbabwe by eight wickets in their decisive final preliminary round match at the Asgiriya International Stadium on Sunday.
The victory, achieved with 16 overs to spare, secured a place in the LG Abans triangular limited overs cricket series final against their hosts Sri Lanka in Colombo on Wednesday.
After routing Zimbabwe for a modest 154 with newcomer Darryl Brown taking three for 21 off his ten overs, Gayle smashed 17 fours and a six off 79 balls as the Windies raced to 155 for two in 34 overs.
Ramnaresh Sarwan (30 not out) and debutant Ryan Hinds (16 not out) formalised the victory for the West Indies, who earlier had the Zimbabweans reeling on 53 for seven before Heath Streak bolstered the total with a topscore of 57.
Apart from Brown, newball pair Pedro Collins (2-24) and Corey Collymore (2-26) put the early shackles on the Zimbabwe innings with the first three wickets falling for a mere nine runs.
Gayle, who has endured a wretched tour of Sri Lanka after hitting an unbeaten century in the tourists' in the second warm-up game in Matara, was at his stroke-making best with 74 of his runs coming in boundaries.
After a slow start in which he took 15 balls to open his account and moved to only nine runs in the first ten overs, Gayle went into high gear following the loss of his opening partner, Daren Ganga for 12 at 15 for one.
Gayle was particularly severe on Travis Friend, who was smashed for 16 in one over and Henry Olonga, who was knocked all around the stadium for 20 runs in the next over.
The Jamaican left-hander posted his fifty with a six off Gary Brent and in the medium pacer's next over, Gray pummelled him for four boundaries.
Gayle was in such a ruthless mood that Sarwan eked out only 14 of the 106 runs the pair added for the second wicket.
When Gayle was finally caught in the covers by Olonga off Marillier, the Windies needed only 34 more runs and the 20-year-old Hinds joined Sarwan to calmly put on the finishing touches.
Earlier, Zimbabwe, sent in, gave an inept batting display with a series of injudicious shots.
Grant Flower (3) was bowled by Collins in the third over, playing down the wrong line while in the next over from Collymore, Dion Ebrahim was trapped infront by a perfect off-cutter which jagged back into the right-hander.
Captain Stuart Carlisle (1) flashed at a wide delivery from Collins and was snapped up by wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs while the Zimbabwe's woes continued when Craig Wishart (6) was run out by Hooper.
Trevor Gripper (4), Andy Flower (21) and Marillier also fell in mid-innings to the accurate medium pace of the 28-year-old Brown.
It was an impressive start to Brown's international career following his surprise selection after he had failed to take a wicket in four matches in the Red Stripe Bowl one-day competition which preceded the tour of Sri Lanka.
After the match, Hooper said he had a "strong feeling" his Caribbean cricketers side could upset Sri Lanka even without the services of star batsman Brian Lara.
Lara was released from the hospital Saturday evening after dislocating his elbow and will remain with the team until the end of the tour.
His arm will remain in a sling for two weeks but the West Indies management is hopeful that he can be back playing in five to six weeks.
