Nicholas Pooran’s whirlwind knock powered hosts West Indies to a 35-run win against Australia in their only warm-up match before the T20 World Cup 2024 at Trinidad.

Batting first, the West Indies put on 257/4 in their allotted 20 overs on the back of Nicky P’s onslaught. He hit eight sixes and five fours to top-score in the contest with 75 off just 25 balls.

In response, Australia could manage only 222/7 with our pace sensation Shamar Joseph picking up the crucial wicket of in-form batter David Warner, who had scored a half-century in the Aussies’ last warm-up game against Namibia.

Nicky P walked in during the third over with the score reading 38/1.

The southpaw picked up right from where he left off in the IPL 2024 season and made his intentions clear smashing three sixes and a boundary off the first four balls he faced. Courtesy of his power-hitting, the Windies raced to 78/1 at the end of powerplay.

Pooran welcomed Adam Zampa into the attack with three sixes as he crossed the 50-run mark in only 16 balls. Trinidad witnessed some manic boundary hitting from Nicky P as all but three runs out of his first fifty, came from boundaries.

Even after his half-century, Pooran showed no signs of slowing down as he hit two more sixes in the next over as the Windies stormed past 100 in the eighth over. The Aussie bowlers breathed a sigh of relief as Pooran was dismissed for 75. He had an unbelievable strike rate of 300.00.

However, there was no respite for the Aussies as Rovman Powell (52 off 25) and Sherfane Rutherford (47 off 18) batted them out of the contest. 

Our allrounder Marcus Stoinis did arrive in Trinidad on Wednesday but couldn’t feature for Australia in the match as his kit had been delayed in Miami.