Pooran’s quick attack gave the West Indies a major victory.
August 24, 2024 2024-08-24 6:19Pooran’s quick attack gave the West Indies a major victory.
Introduction: Pooran’s quick
Nicholas Pooran’s 65* off just 26 deliveries
helped the West Indies beat South Africa by
seven wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match
T20I series in Trinidad. Pooran’s knock beat Tristan
Stubbs’ magnificent attempt to rescue the
visitors from a precarious 42-5 with a dangerous
42-ball 76, taking them to a good 174 for 7.
The home wicket was the perfect one with
an 84-run partnership starting point and Pooran
took charge soon after and helped
the team win with just 13 balls remaining.
The new South African side had their
first fall after a brief rain delay in the second
half as Matthew Ford scored his second goal of the game and Ryan Rickleton followed suit. Aiden Markram responded with a six and a four off Aqeel Hussain, but Ford came back and sent the South African captain packing for a 10-ball 14. Shamar Joseph then bowled the first ball of the first two overs, leaving the visiting team reeling. 33/4 at the start of the seventh over. After bowling 11 overs, South Africa sent half of their team back to the dugout and led by just five RPOs.
Pooran picked up the ball from where the first
Pooran picked up the ball from where the first set ended and dropped his second serve for a six on the ground. As Hope approached his half-century, West Indies, who had reached exactly 100 runs in the first 10 overs, needed just 76 runs in the second half.
But Hope waited a while to force the fast bowler out of the attack when Pooran took Burger to the cleaners in the 12th over with four straight sixes. Hopes faded after the 34-ball fifth over, but Pooran, in a good position, was relentless in his attack. Next in the firing line, Kruger hit 6,4,6 in the 16th over to reduce the equation to 11 in the last four runs before the formalities were completed in no time.
Brief scores: South Africa 174/7 in 20 overs (Tristan Stubbs 76, Patrick Kruger 44; Matthew Ford 3-27, Shamar Joseph 2-40) vs West Indies 176/3 in 17.5 overs (Nicholas Pooran 65*, Shai Hope) defeat 51, Alik Afanasy 40; Odneil Bartman 2-30) 7 wickets.
