West Indies beat Australia in run-filled warm-up match

West Indies and Australia warmed up for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup by serving up a run fest in Port of Spain.

Nicholas Pooran’s 25-ball 75 headlined the Windies’ 257 for four, with captain Rovman Powell also making a rapid half century.

Josh Inglis’ 55 gave nine-man Australia hope but their reply faded and the hosts ran out winners by 35 runs.

Elsewhere, Namibia narrowly beat Papua New Guinea in a rain-affected match while the weather also led to three no results.

Pooran punishes depleted Australia

West Indies wicketkeeper Pooran was in ruthless form from the outset in Trinidad, smashing eight sixes in his blistering knock after the early dismissal of Shai Hope.

He reached his half-century from just 16 deliveries and received equally hard-hitting support from Powell and Sherfane Rutherford.

The pair hit four fours and four sixes apiece, the skipper making 52 from 25 balls and Rutherford 47 from 18 as Australia, for whom Adam Zampa took two wickets, were set 258 to win.

Ashton Agar showed his intent at the top of the order with 28 off 13 and Inglis picked up the charge, passing 50 in 26 balls.

But he and Matthew Wade (25) fell in consecutive balls either side of the end of the 12th over to put a dampener on Australia’s hopes of completing the mammoth chase.

Nathan Ellis made 39 from 22 down the order but West Indies saw out the victory, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie taking two for 31 from his four overs.

Namibia edge past PNG

Namibia won a rain-affected clash with Papua New Guinea by three runs (DLS) in Tarouba.

PNG batted first but lost wickets at regular intervals on their way to 109 for seven, with David Wiese (2/8) and Ruben Trumpelmann (2/15) particularly effective with the ball.

Bernard Scholtz claimed one for 11 from four miserly overs as several PNG batters made starts without kicking on. Sese Nau briefly threatened to break free, hitting two sixes in his 29 before being trapped lbw by Wiese.

Namibia slipped to eight for three in reply, Alei Nao striking twice early, but Jan Frylinck (36) and Jean-Pierre Kotze (30) steadied the ship with a fourth-wicket stand of 71.

They were each dismissed but Namibia were three runs clear of the DRS target when weather intervened with 3.1 overs of their innings remaining.

Both sides open their campaigns on Sunday, with PNG facing co-hosts West Indies and Namibia taking on Oman.