BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC — West Indies produced a heroic bowling performance but were defied by a captain’s knock by Mitchell Santner to fall to a heartbreaking one-wicket defeat to New Zealand in the fourth One-Day International (ODI) here on Sunday.

Santner scored a crucial, unbeaten 34 to marshal the lower order and lead his side to 189 for nine in 44.1 overs in response to the home side’s below par score of 188 at Kensington Oval.

The win gave New Zealand an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series, with the final game to be played on Tuesday at the same venue.

Before the match — the 50th ODI at Kensington Oval — tributes were made in honour of the late Sir Garfield Sobers who passed away on Friday.

Having spoken of wanting to win the series in honour of a man widely regarded as the best cricketer of all time, Shai Hope’s troops were one catch away from pulling off a memorable victory and levelling the series following a spectacular spell of spin bowling by Gudakesh Motie, who grabbed a maiden ODI five-wicket haul.

Needing wickets after posting another disappointing total, pacer Matthew Forde had Henry Nicholls caught behind off the fourth ball of the innings without a run on the board.

Forde was back in the thick of things in his next over, holding on to a superb return catch to dismiss Nick Kelly for three to leave the Kiwis six for two.

Mitchell Santner (right) of New Zealand hits a six as West Indies wicketkeeper Shai Hope looks on during the fourth One-Day International at Kensington Oval.

Will Young and Mark Chapman put on 40 runs for the third wicket before the former was undone by a beautiful delivery from Jayden Seales that he could only edge behind to the wicketkeeper.

Motie’s first wicket was that of Tom Latham’s, who pulled a full toss straight to Justin Greaves at midwicket to leave the game in the balance at 77 for four.

Chapman and Michael Bracewell looked to have put the game out of reach of the West Indies during a 65-run partnership that carried the visitors within sight of a comfortable win at 142 for five.

Motie made the breakthrough by having Chapman spectacularly taken at deep backward square by a diving Sherfane Rutherford for 80 off 82 balls, and after a brief 25-minute stoppage due to rain, he bowled Bracewell for 32 to leave the game interestingly poised at 149 for six in the 30th over.

Nathan Smith was then bowled by Alzarri Joseph, and Motie shattered the stumps of Jacob Duffy and Matthew Fisher in quick succession to put the Windies on the brink of a remarkable victory, with New Zealand wobbling on 180 for nine.

However, Santner, who was named Player of the Match, defied them by expertly shielding last man Jayden Lennox to score the nine runs required for victory.

West Indies spinner Gudakesh Motie (left) celebrates with teammates after dismissing Tom Latham of New Zealand on Sunday.

He should have been dismissed with three runs still needed, but Justin Greaves and Ackeem Auguste collided as they converged to take a catch after his attempted drive off Seales ballooned into the air in the cover region.

The miss allowed Santner and Lennox to scramble two runs and level the score.

Motie was the Windies’ best bowler with 5-47, while Forde took 2-44.

Earlier, after being sent in to bat for the third straight match, the West Indies suffered a middle-order collapse that saw them crumble from 54 for one to 81 for six.

It took the efforts of Amir Jangoo and Gudakesh Motie to get them up to a respectable total, with the two adding 81 runs for the seventh wicket.

Matthew Fisher eventually had Motie caught behind for a well-played 41 off 56 balls to break the stand, and he also accounted for the wicket of Jangoo after he had scored 51 off 73 balls, and the Windies lost their last four wickets for 26 runs.

Fisher ended with 3-40, Bracewell took 2-35, and Santner 2-36.