By Peter Della Penna
Coming off back-to-back losses to finish third in Group A at the ICC
World T20 Qualifier in Dubai, USA wiped the slate clean and started off
with a solid win against Region 3 XI, a Nepal zonal side in a 50-over
warm-up match on Wednesday at Tribhuvan University in the Kirtipur
section of Kathmandu, Nepal. USA won by 73 runs and Lennox Cush was
named Man of the Match with a blistering 92 off of 52 balls.
USA
won the toss and batted first in an effort to give several players some
much needed time at the crease. Clain Williams opened the batting with
Orlando Baker and was the first to go, caught behind for 28 off the
medium pace of Rom Shrestha to make it 47 for 1 in the 7th over.
Pic (Right): USA assistant coach Dipak Patel gives some spin
bowling tips to some local college players who came by to watch the
practice match. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna]
Baker was joined by Steve Massiah as the two then continued with the
solid start. Massiah took his time to ease his way in and gave as much
of the strike to Baker as possible. Baker played a series of lovely
shots around the wicket to bring up his 50 before he was out a short
time later for 56, chipping a simple return catch back to medium pacer
Sunam Gautam to make the score 122 for 2 in the 25th.
Then it was time for Cush to come to the wicket and in no time he raced
by Massiah. He was particularly strong straight down the ground,
lofting a series of deliveries from the spinners into and over the
sight screens. His 50 was brought up in only 30 balls.
Nepal received a boost when Massiah and then Aditya Thyagarajan were
out in the span of six balls. Massiah finally departed LBW to the
medium pace of Kalam Ali for 37 to make it 187 for 3 in the 36th over
before Thyagarajan was caught behind for 1 off of Shrestha playing a
flat footed drive to make it 188 for 4 in the 37th. Cush was joined by
Sudesh Dhaniram and continued to motor along before he finally was
caught at long on with the score at 233 for 5 in the 41st over, but not
before crushing eight fours and seven sixes in his knock.
Dhaniram and Saurabh Verma made small contributions while Rashard
Marshall picked up the slack with USA’s third half-century as USA
scored at more than 10 an over in the final 10 overs of the innings to
take the total to 333 for 8 in 50 overs. Marshall retired on 61 off 35
balls with two fours and six sixes.
Region 3 made a rapid start in reply as Usman Shuja was given harsh
treatment by the openers, Paresh Lohani and Subash Khakurel. Khakurel
gave the home crowd of about 400 plenty to cheer about as he made his
way to a brisk half-century with a series of lovely drives through the
off side. Region 3 was scoring at better than eight runs per over and
Massiah brought on Verma in the 9th over to bowl leg spin in an attempt
to slow down the momentum. A few overs later it worked as Verma drew
Khakurel fractionally out of his crease trying to drive. Khakurel
missed and was expertly stumped by Baker for 50, making the score 95
for 1 in the 13th.
In
the next over, Imran Awan was brought on and made a series of
breakthroughs to stem the flow of runs and steal momentum back USA’s
way. Lohani departed for 39 to an excellent catch by Shuja diving
forward on the run coming in from long off.
Pic (Right): A stray dog makes friends with USA Team area in the
hopes of getting some scraps of the team lunches. [Courtesy: Peter
Della Penna]
In Awan’s next over, Gautam mistimed one high in the air to
midwicket in the circle where Timroy Allen took a straightforward catch
to send Gautam back for 5. Rikesh Lama followed in the 18th as Awan
clean bowled him for 4 to take three wickets in three consecutive
overs. Region 3 was reduced to 116 for 4 and from there USA was in
complete control.
USA continued to apply pressure and although the wickets didn’t fall as
hoped to bring the match to an end, Region 3 never came close to
getting to the target. Verma and Dhaniram bowled very good spells to
stand out as Region 3 finished their 50 overs on 260 for 7. However, a
major blemish on the match for USA was continued poor fielding as
multiple dropped chances and some sloppy misfields and overthrows
gifted Region 3 plenty of runs in their innings.
After the match, the USA squad was driven to the US Embassy in
Kathmandu where the team was welcomed by a gathering of Marines and
American staff who were excited to have a rare opportunity to meet a
national team visiting Nepal. On Tuesday, the team made an appearance
at an English language international school where some cricket
demonstrations were given by the players to over 100 children in
attendance. The team will take a tour to the Himalayas on Thursday
outside of Kathmandu for a tourist experience and some time to relax
ahead of what will be a busy tournament with six 50-over matches to be
played in eight days. USA’s first official fixture is against Fiji on
Saturday at the Engineering Campus Ground in Lalitpur.
Official Scorecard
WCL Division Five Warm-up Game
USA XI vs. Nepal Region 3 XI (11 bat/11 field)
USA won by 73 runs
USA won the toss and batted
Man of the Match: Lennox Cush
USA Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
OM Baker+ 56 81 7 0 c & b S Gautam
CH Williams 28 24 5 1 c Khakurel+ b R Shrestha
SJ Massiah* 37 74 3 0 LBW Ali
LJ Cush 92 52 8 7 c S Shrestha b Rana
A Thyagarajan 1 3 0 0 c Khakurel+ b R Shrestha
S Dhaniram 15 16 2 0 c Basnet b Rana
RA Marshall 61 35 2 6 retired out
TP Allen 3 4 0 0 c S Shrestha b Rana
S Verma 17 9 0 2 not out
KU Shuja 6 2 1 0 not out
Total Extras 17 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 6 leg byes, 11 wides)
Team Total 333 for 8 in 50 overs
Did not bat: I Awan.
Fall of Wicket: 47/1 (Williams), 122/2 (Baker), 187/3 (Massiah), 188/4 (Thyagarajan),
233/5 (Cush), 256/6 (Dhaniram), 273/7 (Allen), 312/8 (Marshall).
Region 3 Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
K Ali 5-0-45-1
A Rana 10-0-87-3
R Shrestha 7-0-39-2
R Basnet 8-0-61-0
S Gautam 10-1-44-1
S Uday 6-0-32-0
R Lama 4-0-19-0
Region 3 Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
P Lohani 39 43 7 0 c Shuja b Awan
S Khakurel+ 50 37 7 2 st Baker+ b Verma
S Shrestha 33 34 3 1 st Baker+ b Dhaniram
S Gautam 5 12 1 0 c Allen b Awan
R Lama 4 8 1 0 b Awan
S Uday 53 74 6 0 b Dhaniram
R Shrestha 40 82 1 1 not out
P Shakya 2 4 0 0 b Allen
B Gautam 7 6 1 0 not out
Total Extras 27 (0 no balls, 1 bye, 10 leg byes, 16 wides)
Team Total 260 for 7 in 50 overs
Did not bat: R Basnet*, A Rana.
Fall of Wicket: 95/1 (Khakurel), 99/2 (Lohani), 111/3 (S Shrestha),
116/4 (S Gautam), 147/5 (S Shrestha), 241/6 (Uday), 246/7 (Shakya).
USA Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
KG Darlington 4-0-16-0
KU Shuja 9-1-66-0
S Verma 10-2-37-1
I Awan 4.5-1-30-3
LJ Cush 0.1-0-0-0
S Dhaniram 5-0-20-2
TP Allen 6-0-25-1
A Thyagarajan 6-0-28-0
SJ Massiah 5-0-27-0