Nicholas Pooran waded in at the Riverside where MS Dhoni dared not tread at Edgbaston on Sunday, turning a game on its head with a barnstoming 118 that nearly dragged West Indies from a performance of limping ineptitude to remarkable victory.
Coming in at 71 for three, Pooran had marshalled a cardboard batting display into respectability and then 3D-fantasy, alongside Jason Holder, Carlos Brathwaite and, most thrillingly of all, Fabian Allen. Aged 23, his highest international score was 63 and the run chase of 339 would be a World Cup record – but no matter. West Indies have had a dreadful World Cup but pride and shame are powerful catalysts.
Allen and Pooran had put on 83 in 10 overs and from nowhere the scales had tipped towards West Indies when there was a terrible maroon headrush – with Allen ball-watching and forgetting to run as Pooran charged towards him on 99. Recriminations were sharp.
Pooran went to his century next ball and, when he survived a possible catch after Thisara Perera strayed too far from the boundary, the momentum seemed with him. But Angelo Mathews rolled in to bowl his first ball in an ODI since December 2017 and Pooran chased it. He crawled off the field, dragging his shadow beneath. There was no epilogue: Sri Lanka won by 23 runs.
Their innings had been a revelation as they rattled along to their first score of 300 plus of the tournament, led by a gorgeous maiden ODI century from the 21-year-old Avishka Fernando, who drove and pulled with pure happiness. For the Sri Lanka team, who scored not one ODI century in 2018, and only two others this year, it was a breath of fresh air.
West Indies – with the unlikely support of the watching singer Rihanna – had fielded with pantomime exasperation, the troop had their fingers in their pockets and their hands on their hips. Shannon Gabriel got a bail in the face; Holder left the field to use a set of nail clippers; Sunil Ambris twisted an ankle; a free-hit yorker fell through Shai Hope’s legs; Pooran dropped Kusal Perera; Lahiru Thirimanne was caught at midwicket off a no-ball. And as West Indies threatened to whip away their victory, Sri Lanka’s fielding also disintegrated.