jamaica-gleaner.com
Tony Becca, Contributor
It is quite possible that many years from now, the 2014 Under-19 World Cup will be remembered as the one which triggered the revival of the West Indies cricket team as a world power.
The Under-19 World Cup tournament, held in Dubai last month, produced some good batting and some good bowling, and it also provided, for the world to see, a glimpse of Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the son of the reliable and prolific, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Young Chanderpaul scored a century against India, he missed scoring one against Zimbabwe when he ticked off 84 not out, and he narrowly missed one against Canada when he fell for 93.
All-rounder Fabian Allen also missed a century against Afghanistan when he scored 92, and fast bowler Ray Jordan turned in a few lively and good spells.
The one who lit up the tournament with a dazzling and breathtaking innings, however, and the batsman who played the innings, possibly of a life time, was the 18-year-old Nicholas Pooran, a dashing left-hander from Trinidad and Tobago.
In the quarter-final match against Australia, the West Indies got off to a poor start, a very poor start, and were seven runs for the loss of three wickets when Pooran walked to the crease.
And they were 70 for eight and appeared heading for a quick shower when the batsman/wicketkeeper got going.
With Jerome Jones as a stubborn and willing partner, Pooran sailed into the bowling, and added 136 runs for the ninth wicket before Jones, who bowls medium-fast, finally fell for 20.
Last man dismissed
Pooran, after a grand display, after hitting the ball beautifully to both sides of the wicket, was the last man dismissed at 208 for a majestic 143 in 180 minutes, off 160 deliveries, with 14 fours and six sixes.
The West Indies lost the match, but it was an innings to remember, an innings fit for an audience of emperors, and an innings which promises something great.
Playing in the Caribbean Premier League last year, the teenager caught the eye with an electrifying and swashbuckling innings of 54 against Guyana Amazon Warriors in his first match, an innings which lasted 24 deliveries, included one four and six mighty sixes, and one which lifted Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel to 135.
Going to bat at 50 for three and leaving the scene at 124 for six, that was an innings of gay abandon, fittingly played in a T20 competition, and welcomed as such.
The performance in Dubai, however, was a horse of a different colour. The one common thing in both displays was that he went to bat with his team in trouble, one at 40 for three in a T20 match, and the other at seven for three in a 50-over game.
While last year he simply blasted the bowling to all parts of the ground during his innings, exuding the innocence of youth along the way, this time he methodically set about the attack and systematically destroyed it with measured stroke play, like a veteran batsman, and also like one with immense skill.
His stroke selection was almost perfect, his power was amazing, and his temperament was impressive. Throughout his innings, throughout his wonderful display, he was as cool as ice.
Mature batting
He batted with a maturity beyond his young age, not against a team like Canada, or Afghanistan, or others like them, but against one like Australia, a team with pedigree, and a team which always fights to the end.
Pooran's batting was so refreshing, so commanding, and so dominant that I was happy to have seen it, or most of it, even though it was on television.
The innings was so brilliant that I shudder at the thought of what he is capable of unveiling before the world of cricket when he really comes to the age of maturity.
Remembering the many young guns, in many sports, who have fallen by the wayside, victims of unfulfilled promise, I hope to God that I am not too hasty in singing Pooran's praises.
I pray to God, however, that Pooran will not be one of those, but that he, and young Chanderpaul, Allen, Jordan, and Brandon King and company, along with other youngsters like Jason Holder, Kraigg Brathwaite, and Ronsford Beaton, will continue on his way, that the West Indies coaches will assist him on his way, and that they will not do anything to derail him, to clutter his technique, and to confuse his innocent and refreshingly fearless play.
West Indies cricket is crying out for a batsman with the promise of one like Pooran, or rather for more players with the gift, with the self-confidence, and with the attitude of Pooran.
