Chris Gayle and Merv Dillon produced the goods with bat and ball as the West Indies cruised past Bangladesh in yet another one-sided affair at The Rose Bowl.

The West Indies' 138-run victory will see them face South Africa at The Oval on Saturday with the winners claiming a spot in next Wednesday's second semi-final.

But Brian Lara's side may yet have cause to regret that they allowed Bangladesh to make 131 having had them on the ropes at 26-5: if they had dismissed them for under 96 then they, and not South Africa, would now be in control of Pool B.

West Indies' 269-3 was the end product of a competition record-equalling opening stand between Gayle (99) and Wavell Hinds (82), before Dillon had a hand in each of the first five Bangladesh wickets on his way to a career-best 5-29.

Bangladesh could have entertained only fanciful hopes of a competitive Pool B chase on a slow pitch which ensured runs were hard to come by throughout.

But after Dillon had blown away the top order inside the first 10 overs, it was no more a matter of how close Bangladesh could get but how long they could last.

Javed Omar was first to go, turned round on the back foot by Dillon and edging to gully where Darren Sammy leapt high to his left to parry one-handed and then complete an outstanding catch by clutching the ball to his midriff as he landed.

Mohammad Ashraful naively hooked Ian Bradshaw straight to long-leg where Dillon took the catch, before the chief destroyer steamed in again from the pavilion end to bag his second wicket when he disturbed the stumps when Nafis Iqbal missed an ambitious off-drive.

Dillon struck timber once more with his best delivery, a leg-cutter pitched on a perfect length and hitting off stump as Bangladeshi captain Rajin Saleh played inside the line.

Khaled Mashud was Dillon's fourth victim. The wicketkeeper-batsman escaped a regulation chance offered to Gayle at second slip but instead fell for a duck next ball when another wafted push-drive was snapped up low down by Sammy in the gully.

There was no way back from 26-5. But a gritty 45-run stand for the sixth wicket between Aftab Ahmed and Mushfiqur Rahman - as well as some late resistance from old hand Khaled Mahmud - salvaged a semblance of respectability even as Dillon returned to complete his haul.

Windies' left-handed openers Gayle and Hinds had earlier been forced to graft on a pitch which precluded easy timing.

They put on 192 - as Indians Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly had against England the last time this tournament was played - in just under 40 overs.

Gayle hit only six fours from 132 balls but did much to prepare a platform for his team to attack with impunity in the last 10 overs.

The opportunity was not squandered either as Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan got stuck in to convert a position of strength.

Some sloppy out-cricket from Bangladesh also contributed extra runs they could ill afford to give away via wides, no-balls and overthrows.

After being put to the sword early as the Windies relished the invitation to bat first on a sunny morning, Bangladesh kept the scoring rate under control for long periods.

They did not help themselves by missing a series of chances to break the opening stand. But Hinds, reprieved three times in all, got his most notable let off on 28 when Mashud did his job behind the stumps only for umpire Jeremy Lloyds to judge there had been no edge on an attempted drive at Mahmud.

Gayle was also spared when on 46 he offered a sharp return catch to veteran seamer Mahmud, who could not cling on.

Hinds, who finished with eight fours and two sixes from 119 balls, upped the ante when he hit his two maximum blows over long on in the 34th and 36th overs off slow left-armer Mohammad Rafique.

After Tapash Baisya had finally eked out Hinds caught in the deep and Gayle edging behind, Lara also took a liking to Rafique, hitting him for two more leg-side sixes in one over.

The Windies' captain was dismissed by a fine piece of cricket from Baisya, who collected Sarwan's straight-drive in his follow-through and turned to throw down the non-striker's stumps with his victim still out of his ground.

But Lara's team nonetheless posted at least a par total which unsurprisingly proved way beyond their opponents.

West Indies: BC Lara (capt), CH Gayle, WW Hinds, RR Sarwan, S Chanderpaul, SC Joseph, DJJ Bravo, CO Browne, M Dillon, IDR Bradshaw, DJG Sammy.

Bangladesh: Rajin Saleh (capt), Javed Omar, Mohammad Ashraful, Nafis Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Khaled Mashud, Khaled Mahmud, Mushfiqur Rahman, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Nazmul Hossain.

15 Sep, 2004