Australia cantered to a comprehensive five-wicket win over the West Indies in their quarter-final of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, but the match will forever be remembered for the brilliant century of Nicholas Pooran.
The 18-year-old Trinidadian, who idolizes Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, smashed 143 in 160 deliveries – the highest score of the tournament so far – with most of his runs coming after West Indies were reduced to 70-8 in the 27th over.
When an early finish looked imminent, Pooran joined hands with No10 Jerome Jones (20 in 36 balls) and put up an exhibition of exceptional shot-making and controlling the strike.
The duo put on 136 runs for the ninth wicket and helped their team reach 208. West Indies’ best bet to upset Australia would have been to get a couple of early wickets, but openers Matthew Short (52) and Jerome Morgan (55) cut and pulled their way to a fabulous first-wicket stand of 107, and the middle-order held its nerve to ensure a place in the semi-finals for the three-time champions.
Australia will now take on South Africa in the second semi-finals under lights at Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday. Pooran’s 143 included six massive sixes and 14 exquisite boundaries.
It was 68.75 per cent of West Indies’ total of 208, which broke the record of most percentage of runs by an individual in a team total in Youth ODI history.
The previous record was 66.29 per cent by Australia’s Theo Doropoulos in 2003, when he hit an unbeaten 179 in his side’s total of 270-6 against England U19.
Pooran, who dedicated his century to a friend who passed away recently because of dengue, was a bit disappointed for two reasons – his team did not win and his father, who was in the UAE until yesterday, was not at the stadium to watch the best knock of his career so far.
“To be honest, I did not have any particular thoughts at all during the innings. I batted as I always bat. I thought about my friend, Christian, who died before this tournament, and he was a great support to me. This is a tribute to him,” said Pooran.
“Also my father went back yesterday, so he missed this knock. But I am sure he is very proud of me back home.
“I am a very aggressive batsman, but I played a different inning today. I needed to stay there and all I was trying to do was bat four balls in an over and then take a single in the last two.”
When asked about his cricketing idol, Pooran was quick to name Dhoni. “Most of the senior players in the West Indies team are my friends and I do get a lot of advice from them, but my role model is MS Dhoni.
I have seen and read so much about him. What I like most about him is that he comes in to bat in extreme pressure situations like this, and always delivers.”
Australian captain Alex Gregory paid glowing tributes to Pooran’s innings. “After our loss against Afghanistan (in the group stage), we have tried to focus on each game as it comes, and I am happy that we came good in this match,” Gregory said.
“That innings by Nicholas was a standout innings by far. We had them at 70-8 and we thought we will get them out for under 100, but Nicholas batted extremely well.
He controlled the game and hit some pretty good shots. What really stood out was his control and how he found the boundary whenever he wanted to.”
In the other quarter-final, South African medium pacer Justin Dill took four wickets to restrict Afghanistan to 197, and then captain Aiden Markham hammered an unbeaten 105 to guide his team to a nine-wicket win at Sharjah.
