Caption: Off to the T20 World Cup: West Indies players head to the dressing room after winning the warm-up match against Australia
West Indies 257 for 4 (Pooran 75, Powell 52, Zampa 2 for 2 beat Australia 222 for 7 (Inglis 55, Ellis 39, Motie 2-31) by 35 runs
A BLAZING 75 from Nicholas Pooran and 52 from West Indies skipper Rovman Powell gave the two-time T20 champs a resounding victory over Australia in a warm-up game at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain on Thursday evening.
It was a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup that begins on Saturday when cohosts USA take on Canada at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas.
The other cohosts, West Indies played at the iconic oval, which lost out to the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in hosting actual World Cup games.
The Caribbean side registered an impressive 35-run victory over Australia with Pooran the star of the show with a superb 75 from just 25 balls as the West Indies posted a massive total of 257/4.
West Indies start their T20 World Cup campaign against Papua New Guinea on Sunday in Guyana.
Pooran smashed eight sixes and skipper Rovman Powell (52), left-hander Sherfane Rutherford (47*) and opener Johnson Charles (40) also got in the act as the two-time T20 World Cup champions delighted their home crowd with some scintillating power-hitting.
All of Australia’s bowlers felt the wrath of the West Indies top order, with first-choice spinner Adam Zampa conceding 62 runs from his four overs while picking up two wickets.
Australia put up a decent show in reply despite missing a host of key players, with Josh Inglis (55), Nathan Ellis (39) and Ashton Agar (28) looking the most dangerous in what was always going to be a difficult chase as the 2021 T20 World Cup winners finished with 222/7 in their final warm-up fixture.
Spinner Gudakesh Motie (2/31) and tall pacer Alzarri Joseph (2/44) picked up a pair of wickets each for the hosts.
Australia fielded nine actual World Cup players with coaches filling in. On the field were chair of selectors George Bailey and assistant coaches Brad Hodge and Andre Borovec with the latter dropping Pooran.
