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By Peter Della Penna

A towering 213-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Man of the Match Aditya Thyagarajan and Orlando Baker put USA on the path to victory as they beat Argentina by 120 runs on Friday at St. Georges Cricket Club in Bermuda on day one of the ICC Americas Division One Tournament.

Pic (Right): File photo of Aditya Thyagarajan taken during the ICC Division 5 match versus Jersey.  [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia]

Coming in at number six with the score at 91 for 4, Thyagarajan finished with 159, his highest score for USA, which included 21 boundaries and three sixes. Baker notched a century of his own, scoring 113 opening the innings after USA was sent in to bat.

“I went into bat when we were in a spot of bother,” said Thyagarajan afterwards. “Baker and I began to do the repair work. The key for me was that I kept playing my natural game and continued to play my strength shots. Batting with Baker is always great and we have had many partnerships for USA. I feel in great touch and hope to continue to work hard and win games for USA.”

Sushil Nadkarni and Baker opened the match for USA and put on 49 runs before Nadkarni was the first man dismissed for 23. Captain Steve Massiah was caught behind for a fifth ball duck four runs later off the bowling of Lucas Paterlini. Carl Wright could only manage 9 runs before he was sent back by the Argentine captain Esteban MacDermott. Lennox Cush became the second batsman out for a duck when he fell on his fifth ball to Diego Lord in the 20th over to make it 91 for 4.

It was here that Thyagarajan entered the fray and true to his reputation in a USA uniform, staged a classic fightback with Baker to bring up his first century as a member of the national team. Both men looked in solid form during their 50-over encounter one week earlier against Jamaica and carried it over into the first match of this tournament. Baker had already reached 50 when Thyagarajan came to the crease, but it was Thyagarajan who brought up his century first, scoring the lion’s share of the runs in their partnership. Thyagarajan accounted for 75% of the runs in their fifth wicket stand, while he also took most of the strike as he faced 119 balls during the 28 overs he was at the crease. He was finally dismissed in the 48th over by Gary Savage while Baker fell in the final over of the innings to Paterlini. Rashard Marshall played another one of his microwave innings, heating up quickly to blast 29 runs in only 8 balls with two fours and three sixes to take USA to 347 for 6 in their 50 overs. Savage finished with 2 for 90 in his 10 overs while Paterlini had 2 for 47 in 9.

Adrian Gordon opened up the pace attack for USA and claimed both openers, Matias and Lucas Paterlini, to set Argentina back at 23 for 2. After Timroy Allen had Pablo Ferguson caught behind to make it 58 for 3, Grant Dugmore and Savage tried to replicate USA’s innings by staging a fightback of their own. The two put on 75 runs before Dugmore was out LBW to the off-spin of Massiah for 64. Savage then put on another half-century stand with Donald Forrester before Savage was runout for 35 by Allen to make it 187 for 5 in the 42nd. Bilal Khan then came on late after opening the bowling with Gordon to pick up three quick wickets. Khan claimed the scalps of Alejandro Ferguson and Bernardo Irigoyen while Carl Wright bowled Martin Siri. Khan then got Forrester for 38, but USA couldn’t claim all 10 wickets and Argentina finished on 227 for 9 in 50 overs.

USA will take on Canada on Saturday at 10:30 am local time in Bermuda. Canada defeated Cayman Islands by 8 wickets on Friday while Bermuda disposed of Bahamas by 7 wickets in the day’s other match.