Canada topple USA, Bermuda and Caymans win
Guyana Chronicle
July 10, 2004
HAMILTON, Bermuda, (CMC) - Canada maintained their stranglehold on the United States, when they rolled over their archrivals by 76 in a rain-affected, all-North American derby in the ICC Americas Associates Cricket Championship on Thursday.
Hosts Bermuda had a runaway 171-run victory over The Bahamas to join Canada at the top of the six-team table on 12 points each ahead of their head-to-head battle today at the National Sports Centre.
Cayman Islands kept their slender hopes of a direct qualifying spot for the next year’s ICC Trophy for Associates Members alive, when they crushed Argentina by eight wickets.
After Friday’s rest day for all teams, they tackle The Bahamas at Southampton Rangers Cricket Club, and the Argentines meet the United States at St David’s Cricket Club.
At St David’s: Both Canada and the United States entered the match with unblemished records and plenty of history from recent matches.
But Canada were under early pressure when they slumped to 47 for four.
They recovered well to reach 224 for nine from their allotment of 50 overs thanks to a stand of 59 for the fifth wicket between top-scorer Ashish Bagai with 68 and Haninder Dhillon with 33.
The United States started brightly with an opening stand of 54 between top-scorer Mark Johnson with 33 and Rahul Kukreti, but three wickets fell for one run in one over from Ashish Patel to set the Americans back and they never recovered to finish on 137 for nine from 41 overs.
The United States continued to lose wickets regularly and subsided to 99 for nine with spin bowlers John Davison, the Australian-born Canada captain, and Guyanese-born Sunil Dhaniram taking two wickets apiece to trigger the collapse.
Nine overs were lost to rain and the Americans’ total was reduced to 214 under the Duckworth/Lewis Method, but only 4.3 overs were left on resumption and there was no hope of a comeback story for the United States.
Earlier, the lower half of the Canadian batting rallied their side to a competitive total after Nasir Javed broke through to have Dhillon caught in the deep.
Knocks of 27 from Don Maxwell and 25 from Austin Codrington boosted their effort, as Nasir Islam was the most successful United States bowler with three wickets for 39 runs.
Barbados-born Charles Reid, as well as spin bowler Javed and Howard Johnson supported with two wickets apiece.
At the NSC: Barbados-born left-handed opener Wendell White hit the top score of 78 not out and added 131 for the fourth wicket with Charlie Marshall, whose contribution was 64.
Bermuda posted a formidable 267 for five from 50 overs and it was always going to be a challenge for The Bahamas to overcome.
Dwayne Leverock made sure it was a mountain with five wickets for 18 runs from 10 overs.
At Southampton: Opener Lucas Paterlini was the standout with 49 for Argentina in their meagre total of 99 from 40.3 overs.
Caymans were never under any pressure and reached their target in the 29th over.
Summarised scores:
At Southampton Rangers CC: ARGENTINA 99 off 40.3 overs (Lucas Paterlini 49; Saheed Mohamed 3-8, Franklin Hinds 2-11, Pearson Best 2-18) lost to CAYMAN ISLANDS 102 for two off 28.4 overs (Pearson Best 29 not out, Lawrence Cunningham 23 not out, Christopher Wight 21) by eight wickets.
At National Sports Centre: BERMUDA 267 for five off 50 overs (Wendell White 78, Charlie Marshall 64, Lionel Cann 33, Clay Smith 26, Stephen Outerbridge 21; Narendra Ekanayake 2-46) beat THE BAHAMAS 96 off 35.1 overs.
(Dwight Weakley 23, Whitcliff Atkinson 23; Dwayne Leverock 10-3-18-5, Delyone Borden 2-16, Dennis Archer 2-27) by 171 runs.
At St David’s CC: CANADA 224 for nine off 50 overs (Ashish Bagai 68 not out, Haninder Dhillon 33, Don Maxwell 27, Austin Codrington 25, John Davison 20; Nasir Islam 3-39, Charles Reid 2-18, Nasir Javed 2-47, Howard Johnson 2-52) beat UNITED STATES 137 for nine off 41 overs (Mark Johnson 33, Nasir Javed 26 not out, Richard Staple 21; Ashish Patel 3-53, John Davison 2-15, Sunil Dhaniram 2-20) by 76 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis Method after target was revised to 214 from 41 overs because of rain.
STANDINGS
1. Canada 12
1. Bermuda 12
3. United States 8
4. Cayman Islands 4
5. Argentina 0
6. Bahamas 0