Kieron Pollard has been criticised on social media after bowling a no-ball which denied opposition batsman Evin Lewis the chance of a century in a Caribbean Premier League match.

Pollard bowled a big no-ball when Lewis was on 97 off 32 balls, with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots needing one run to beat Barbados Tridents in the Twenty20 competition, reports the BBC.

The no-ball gave 25-year-old Lewis’ side the win but saw him miss out on the chance of a ton after he and captain Chris Gayle reached 129-0.

Cricket statistician and journalist Mazher Arshad said: ‘So Kieron Pollard bowls a no-ball to deny Evin Lewis a hundred in CPL. Suraj Randiv was suspended for a match when he did that to [Virender] Sehwag in 2010.’

Cricket supporter Mainraj Paudel called Pollard’s actions a ‘shameless act’ on Twitter, while another spectator, Abhishek Chaturvedi, accused Pollard of showing ‘zero sportsmanship’.

Lewis, however, was more diplomatic.

In a televised post-match interview, he said: ‘It hurts [missing out on the hundred], but hitting 97 not out off 33 balls? I’ll take that any day.

‘I’ve been hitting the ball long and hard in the nets. I’m confident now and looking forward to the play-offs.’

If Lewis had completed his century in 33 balls, it would have been the second fastest of all time - just behind Chris Gayle’s 30-ball IPL knock in 2013.