ICC World Cup 2019: Match 39, Sri Lanka vs Windies – Pooran’s unsuccessful attempt, Holder’s 100th as captain and more stats

The game between Windies and Sri Lanka was deemed to be the first inconsequential match of the World Cup 2019 but ended up producing a thriller as good as any other game in the tournament. Avishka Fernando struck a 103-ball 104 while Kusal Perera scored 64 from only 51 balls as the Lankans finished with 338/6.

Windies were inconsistent till the 30th over of chase before Nicholas Pooran decided to take on the opposition bowlers. Pooran scored 118 from only 103 balls while Fabian Allen struck a 32-ball 51. Allen got run out when they needed 57 from 36 while Pooran fell to Angelo Mathews when 31 needed from the last 18 deliveries.

All the statistical highlights from a thrilling 23-run win for Sri Lanka against the Windies:

The toughest World Cup for the Windies:

6 – Windies registered their 6th defeat in this tournament; the most for them in a single edition of World Cup surpassing the five matches they lost in the 2007 edition. Overall, this was the 3rd time that Windies lost as many as six matches in an ODI series/tournaments. They were defeated seven times during the 2001 Tri-Series in Australia and six times during the 7-match ODI series against South Africa in 1999.

The record totals:

338/6 – Sri Lanka’s total of 338/6 in this game was their 3rd highest total against any side and their highest against a Test-playing nation in the World Cup. Lankans posted 398/5 against Kenya in 1996 and 363/9 against Scotland in 2015. Their previous highest CWC total against a full member nation was 332/1 against Bangladesh in the 2015 edition.

315/9 – Windies posted their first 300+ total in a World Cup chase. Their previous highest total while chasing in World Cup was 289/9 against South Africa in 2007 in the pursuit of 357.

A record hundred in vain:

118 – The 118-run knock by Nicholas Pooran is the highest individual score in the World Cup for Windies while batting at No.5 or lower position. Clive Lloyd scored 102 at No.5 in the 1975 CWC final against Australia while Lendl Simmons also scored 102 at No.6 against Ireland in 2015.

118 – Pooran’s 118 is the highest individual score in a CWC defeat for the Windies. The previous highest score in a World Cup defeat for the Caribbean team was Lendl Simmons’ 102 during the 2015 edition against Ireland.

A game of youngsters:

21y 87d – At the age of 21 years and 87 days, Avishka Fernando became the 3rd youngest centurion in the history of World Cup. Only Paul Stirling (20y 196d in 2011) and Ricky Ponting (21y 76d in 1996) were younger than Avishka at the time of their maiden CWC hundred.

23y 272d – At the age of 23 years and 272 days, Nicholas Pooran is the 2nd youngest player to score a World Cup century for the Windies and the 8th youngest centurion in the CWC. Chris Gayle was 23 years and 164 days old when he scored 119 against Kenya in 2003.

1 – For the first time in a World Cup game, two less than 25-year-old players scored centuries. The centurions in this game, Avishka and Pooran, are in fact less than 24 years. Thus, they recorded only the 8th instance in ODI cricket where two players before turning 24 scored hundreds.

Holder @ 100:

100 – Jason Holder became only the 4th player to bag 100 wickets in ODI cricket as captain. Holder got the wickets of Kusal Perera and Angelo Mathews in this game to complete milestone. Wasim Akram (158), Shaun Pollock (134) and Imran Khan (131) were the first three players to achieve this feat.

The sixes machine:

51 – Chris Gayle has hit as many as 51 sixes in only 11 ODI innings he played in 2019. Gayle is only the 2nd player to hit 50+ ODI sixes in a calendar year after AB de Villiers who hit 58 of them in 2015.