Pooran eyeing return to national duty

Attacking batsman Nicholas Pooran is anxious to resume his first-class career after making a full recovery from injuries sustained in a vehicular accident last year.

The 20-year-old was preparing to turn out for Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the 2015 Regional Super50 when he was involved in a car crash, while returning home from training in January.

He sustained leg and knee injuries which kept him out of action for a protracted period, but has worked his way back steadily and played his first competitive match last Sunday for Queen's Park Club in the domestic 50-over competition.

"I really thought I could have played in the [Regional Super50], but I didn't get the chance to prove myself," he told TV6 Sports here.

"I didn't have many trial games and that was a bit unfortunate so now I guess it's back to club cricket, and when I make runs hopefully everything goes good and I get picked in one of the four-day games."

shown sparks

He added: "The next step will be CPL, I'm looking forward to that."

Pooran has played just three first-class games, but has already shown sparks of promise with a half-century against Jamaica Scorpions and 47 against Guyana Jagaurs which came in his last innings.

The former West Indies Under-19 player said his return to

cricket had been a gradual one, but after initial struggles, he now felt back to his old self.

"I started back playing some wind ball cricket ... with some T20, T10, minor league cricket," he noted.

"It was good for me, I still had my batting intact. Nothing had changed. It's just the keeping was a bit difficult at the start, but now I'm back to keeping as normal."

Pooran said his time away from the game was a trying experience, but pointed out he had come to appreciate cricket even more as a result.

"I have to thank God for life because it was a difficult period for me. Every day I looked at cricket, I kept missing it more and more and when I started back playing. I was really eager to start back playing," he said.

"At a point in time I wanted to rush to play, but that wasn't good for me. Every time I saw cricket I missed it a lot. I would be sitting down and watching other players batting, bowling, keeping or whatever, and I would say 'I know I can do better than that'. I can do this and I can do that."