Hampshire captain Dominic Cork was the toast of Bridgetown after a stunning all-round performance helped England break their winless streak in the CLOBI Cup World Masters event in Barbados.

Cork was named as England’s man-of-the-match after their comfortable 31-run win over India after starring with bat and ball for an injury-hit touring side that went into the third round without the services of Graeme Hick, Graham Thorpe and Paul Nixon.

Through necessity, Cork promoted himself to open the batting and went on to top-score with a bullish knock of 69 from 43 balls. He clubbed four sixes and a brace of fours and featured in stands of 44 with Craig White (29) and 47 with Phil DeFreitas (31) as England set the Indians a testing asking rate of almost nine-an-over.

The 39-year-old then came on as first-change to snare India’s leading run-scorer Vikram Rathour leg-before with an off-cutter.

And with one stump to aim at from a wide mid-wicket position, he ran out Mannava Prasad with a direct hit.

That left Glen Chapple (2-23), Martin Bicknell (2-24) and John Emburey (2-22) to run through the middle and late order and leave India well short of their target.

“In hindsight I probably should have been up the order a little higher from game one,” said Cork after collecting his man-of-the-match award.

“I’m still playing and maybe see it that little bit quicker, but when you have the likes of Graham Thorpe, Paul Nixon and Graeme Hick around, you’re bound to let them go in ahead of you.

“Once they were injured I had to promote myself and give it a bash and it worked well.

"After the two losses we knew it was highly unlikely we could get through to the final. We were much more relaxed and enjoyed it. We all seemed to play better as a result.”

Though he intends to play one more year of first-class cricket for Hampshire, Cork believes there can be a big future in World Masters’ cricket.

“I really do think this brand of cricket can take off and it’s great that Barbados are leading the way,” he added.

“Sadly, the West Indies Test side is in a bit of disrepair right now and they will take time to come good again.

“In the meantime, if we can help in a small way to bring some passion to their cricket and bring the crowds back, then it can only be a good thing.

“If they can market this properly and attract the likes of Australia and New Zealand, then I feel the CLOBI Legends have a part to play in packing out stadiums again, not just here in Bridgetown, but in Trinidad, Antigua and Jamaica too.”