By Tony Becca - On The Boundary 
THERE IS nothing like the sweet taste of victory, and when victory is accomplished in style and with class, it is even sweeter. It brings joy to everyone, it makes grown men and women, little boys and girls, jump and cheer.
On Sunday, the West Indies, a magnificent West Indies, smashed India by 135 runs to win the one-day series and West Indians are still smiling. In fact, they are still celebrating.
Going into the match with the series locked at 3-3, with India hopping to 200 for one replying to 300 in one match and then racing to 325 for five replying to 324 in another, and with the team batting first losing all previous six matches, the West Indies, after losing the toss and sent to bat, posted 315 for six and then routed India for 180.
That was brilliant, and after a stumbling start during which they lost their first two wickets with only 16 runs on the board, no praise is too high for Wavell Hinds and Ramnaresh Sarwan who scored 58 and 83 respectively while adding 116 runs for the third wicket. The same goes for pacer Jermaine Lawson who, in claiming the first four wickets, including those of top batsmen Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, sent India reeling at 67 for four, left them without a chance, and ensured that the Windies finished in style.
The man of the match, however, the man who provided the class, and the man who, even remembering India's heroics at Lord's a few months earlier when they knocked off 325 against England and at Ahmedabad when they embarrassed the West Indies, powered the West Indies into an impregnable position was batsman Marlon Samuels.
In one of the greatest innings ever in a one-day international, Samuels stroked 11 fours and five sixes while ticking off 108 not out off 74 deliveries in a performance that was not only wonderful but, apparently, also well planned and obviously perfectly executed.
In probably the most explosive innings ever in one-day cricket by a "touch" player - by a classy, elegant stroke player, Samuels started quietly with his first 18 runs coming off 26 deliveries as he assessed the pace of the pitch and the bounce of the ball, stepped up the pace with the next 32 runs coming off 25 deliveries as he chipped to 50 off 51 deliveries, and then moved into top gear with the next 50 coming off 22 deliveries.
It was batting at its best - the kind of batting that saw the ball racing to the boundary and sailing over it, off spin and pace, not with sledge-hammer strokes but with elegant, perfectly timed strokes.
At 195 for four with 10 overs to go, the consensus was that at an average of eight runs at best per over, the West Indies would get to 275 maximum; and not many believed that would have been good enough to win.
That was when Samuels preened himself with some dazzling stroke play.
In a glorious display, the 21-year-old batsman, with Ricardo Powell as his partner, nailed India for 120 runs off those last 10 overs, and more than likely that was what knocked the stuffing out of them.
Although India had done it twice before in a matter of months, although they had looked like doing it again on another occasion, chasing 300 or more is quite different from chasing 275 or so.
The six, the sweep off left-arm spinner Murali Kartik into the second level of the stand behind square-leg, was a shot of class; and the one off Sehwag when, with the offspinner seeing him coming down the pitch and bowling the ball down the legside, he turned around, faced square-leg and smashed the ball into the stand, was improvisation at its best.
The thrashing of Javagal Srinath, however, was the high point of Samuels' innings. It was as if he was reading the bowler's mind - as if he knew where each ball would be pitched and at what pace it would be bowled.
In picking off the experienced pacer for 21 runs in the over in which he sounded the charge, Samuels hit, rather stroked three fours and one six. And including one off a full toss over the bowler's head. They were all drives, front-foot drives, by one of the best drivers in the game.
It was a performance of class - a masterpiece that sweetened a victory that left West Indians in seventh heaven.
