Powell scored 107 from just 53 with four fours and 10 sixes as he became only the third West Indian batsman behind Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis to score a hundred in a T20 International. His 50 came up off just 31 balls as he dominated England’s bowlers.
Coming to the crease with the West Indies 48-2 after the home side lost the wickets of Brandon King for 10 and Shai Hope for four, Powell and Nicholas Pooran put on a West Indies record 122 runs for the third wicket.
Pooran was also in belligerent form scoring 70 from 43 balls with four fours and five sixes as quickly as he scored, Powell was quicker.
The 100-run partnership came up in just 56 balls with Powell getting 71 of them. The Jamaican’s 100 came up off 51 balls and became only the third West Indies batsman to score a century in a T20 International. Only Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis have achieved that prior to Powell’s innings.
He hit a six off the 52 bowled by Reece Topley but was out next ball going for another big hit.
Fabian Allen was out first ball of the 20th over bowled by Tymal Mills but Captain Kieron Pollard, who made nine from four balls and Romario Shepherd 11 from five took the West Indies to their highest ever T20 score against England.
Those were the words of Captain Kraigg Brathwaite after the West Indies humiliating 158-run defeat to South Africa inside four days at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium in St Lucia on Monday.
The West Indies, resuming from their overnight score of 15 without loss in pursuit of 324, were bundled out for 165 thanks mainly to the bowling of left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who took 5-36, including a hat-trick that saw the home side slide from 104-3 to 104-6.
Kagiso Rabada was also among the wickets, taking 3-44 as the West Indies batting one man short, fell for 165.
Kieran Powell, who scored 51, Kyle Mayers 34 and Kemar Roach and Jermaine Blackwood, who scored 27 and 25, respectively got into double figures.
Brathwaite, who made scores of 0 and 6, laid the blame squarely at the feet of the batsmen, himself included, for the poor performance of the team who did not score more than 170 runs in any of their four innings. The batting was especially embarrassing coming off much better performances against Bangladesh in Bangladesh and the home series against Sri Lanka earlier this year.
In the first Test, the West Indies had scores of 97 and 162 and followed those weak scores with 149 and 165 in the second Test capitulation. Confronted with that reality in the post-match media conference, the disappointed captain could not hide from the truth.
“As batsmen, we know we went wrong. We didn’t bat well,” said Brathwaite, who revealed that they had planned to bat better and having consistent partnerships during the series against the South African bowling attack but said they have to come back better for the next series.
“We are very sorry. Obviously, the fans look forward to the West Indies doing well and we were disappointing,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s not about winning but you still want to see the fight and we didn’t show the fans that fight. Myself included, we have to come back better and make the fans proud.”
Blackwood made scores of 22 and 55 in the first Test that the West Indies won by one wicket chasing a relatively modest total of 168 on a tricky pitch in Kingston. During a press conference on Wednesday, the Jamaican urged his teammates to apply themselves better in the final Test in the Betway series between the two teams.
“Once we go out there and play some hard cricket, I don’t see why we can’t beat Pakistan,” Blackwood told members of the media.
“In the last game you saw some bits of application, so once we can go out there and bat for longer periods I don’t see why we can’t win the series because the bowlers have always done an awesome job for us.”
Asked about the batsmen’s shot selection, which oftentimes sees them getting out to injudicious stroke play, Blackwood, who was dismissed in the first innings playing an attacking shot, agreed that better shot selection would help the batters produce better scores.
“I think once can get down to ball selection and select the right balls to score and which ones to leave and defend that will be much better for us,” he said while defending his own aggression.
He said his plan when he gets to the crease is to face 150 balls or more but in the second innings when he scored 55 from 78 balls he got out pushing at one outside his off stump.
“I am an aggressive batsman and I am always going to be aggressive but once I can curb it a little bit I don’t think my team will kill me for that because as you saw in the last game in the fourth innings on that pitch if I didn’t go out there and get that aggressive I think would be talking about something different today.”
He said, however, that the batting coach Monty Desai has been urging him to be patient, choose the right balls and stay in the moment, as he would love to see him score a double century.
The West Indies lead the series 2-1 with the final two matches scheduled to be played on Saturday and Sunday.
Wayne Lewis, Honorary Secretary at WIPA confirmed to Sportsmax.TV today that WIPA received an email from CWI’s Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams Thursday afternoon informing of the delay to the discussions surrounding the issue that, according to sources, has caused discord within the senior team. He expects the meeting to be held sometime next week.
The matter surfaced earlier this week when allegations were being made that Jamaican all-rounder was being victimized by the team leadership and was eventually dropped for the third match played on Wednesday that the West Indies won by 20 runs. Smith’s replacement Rovman Powell scored his maiden T20 hundred for the West Indies.
Afterwards, Coach Phil Simmons pushed back on assertions that Smith was being victimized. The burly allrounder conceded four runs in the one over he bowled in the second T20 and dropped for the next match. He has also scored useful runs batting at number 10 but according to Phil Simmons, players are selected in the best interest of the team.
“We need to stop this foolishness that we are going on with. We sit here and look at the best team for the day and if Odean was not in the best team for the day it was because we thought Rovman Powell was better suited,” Simmons said afterwards while speaking with the media.
Meanwhile, Cricket West Indies has described the claims as being unsubstantiated and mischievous as it moved to head off any fallout.
In a statement released late Thursday, CWI said it was aware that “voice notes were circulated on social media, and in sections of the regional broadcast media, suggesting that there is a rift within the West Indies Senior Men’s team.
“Contrary to the unsubstantiated statements, containing unfounded and mischievous allegations, CWI is satisfied that there is no discord between the team captain and any member of the West Indies team.”
CWI President Ricky Skerritt indicated that the rumours represent an unwarranted attack on Captain Kieron Pollard.
“I view this as a malicious attack on the credibility of the West Indies captain, designed to sow division within our team that has just recorded three very impressive T20I performances against very strong opponents, including two outstanding wins and one heroic comeback to get within one run of victory,” Skerritt said.
“This clear attempt by well-known mischief makers to discredit the captain and to derail the team’s momentum in the ongoing Betway T20I Series should not be tolerated or encouraged.”
