48 days to World Cup: Daren Powell creates history at Grenada
Opportunities don't come knocking all the time. When they do, you have to take it with both hands.
Daren Brent Lyle Powell did just that at the 2007 World Cup where he created a record that stands to this day.
A stop-start career that began in 2002 and yielded just 11 ODIs until the start of 2007 was given new meaning in 2007 when he was picked in West Indies' World Cup squad.
Although he had a sensational outing in the tournament, where he finished as his side's leading wicket-taker, it is with the bat that he made history during the tournament.
48 days to go before World Cup 2019, here is a look at his knock against South Africa at Grenada that helped him enter the record books as he registered the highest score by a No.10 batsman in World Cup history.
After topping the group stage with three convincing wins, West Indies were hoping to make their mark in the Super 8 stage. But three successive losses against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka meant that they came into the encounter against South Africa, needing a miracle to stay alive and progress to the semis.
Things didn't go according to plan for the hosts after winning the toss and electing to field first. Despite getting rid of Proteas captain Graeme Smith early, a 170-run second-wicket stand between Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers with the latter scoring his maiden century.
On the back of De Villiers' knock and fifties from Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs and Mark Boucher, the Proteas posted 356/4 in their 50 overs. If that task wasn't hard enough, the hosts were struggling at 119/4 after captain Brian Lara was bowled by Kallis.
By the time, Powell came into bat, Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was playing a lone hand, was dismissed for 92 and the hosts were staring at a defeat in excess of 100 runs.
Despite starting as a No.3 batsman while at school, Powell just averaged 2.66 coming into this game and had managed just 24 from 21 ODIs. Instead of surrendering meekly, Powell came out and registered his career-best ODI score and reduced Windies' margin of defeat.
With three sixes and two fours to his name, Powell remained unbeaten on 48 from just 36 balls as Windies ended on 289/9, losing by 67 runs. And courtesy of his knock, he claimed the world record for highest score by a No.10 in the World Cup.
While Powell would go on to finish with more wickets than all but seven players in the tournament, he will forever be remembered for his World Cup record in a losing cause against South Africa.