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By Peter Della Penna in Derry, Northern Ireland

Scorecard powered by New Inning Foundation I Ball-by-Ball Commentary

USA U-19 has a winning record for the first time during the tournament after completing a win by 42 runs on Duckworth Lewis Method over Vanuatu U-19 at Drummond Cricket Club on Saturday afternoon at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Derry, Northern Ireland. Steven Taylor was named Man of the Match after top scoring in USA’s chase with 33 not out.

USA won the toss and sent Vanuatu in to bat in a match that was reduced to 32 overs after a four-hour delayed start due to persistent rain. Vanuatu’s innings struggled to get momentum but at the same time USA’s performance in the field lacked a ruthless killer instinct that should have been on display against the weakest opponent in the tournament.

Vanuatu captain Patrick Matautaava was the first to go, bowled by Mital Patel without scoring to make it 5 for 1. Worford Kalworai and Jaxies Samuel combined to put on 27 runs for the second wicket before Kalworai was caught at backward point for 16 off the bowling of Salman Ahmad.

Three more wickets fell in quick succession as Samuel was bowled by Hammad Shahid for 13, Nilin Nipiko caught behind off Shayan Abdulghani for 0 and Callum Blake LBW to Shahid for 1 to make it 54 for 5 in the 17th. Rather than put the hammer down to finish Vanuatu off, USA let them rebuild with a 30-run partnership between Jelany Chilia and Joseph Rasu which came to an end when Chilia tried to slog Pranay Suri out of the ground and got a top edge to Greg Sewdial in the circle for Vanuatu’s top score of 29.

Rasu and Ronald Tari produced a modest 20-run partnership together that was curtailed after Rasu was run out for 19 trying to steal a run off a misfield. Tari and Kendy Kenneth chipped in with another double-digit stand of 24 runs before Kenneth was caught behind on the final ball of the innings off the bowling of Jodhbir Singh and Vanuatu finished 128 for 8 in 32. Shahid returned USA’s best figures with 2 for 16 in seven overs.

Taylor and Cameron Mirza put on a half-century stand for the first wicket before Mirza was caught for 24 driving to mid off to give Blake one of the two wickets to fall. The other was taken by Matautaava when Singh fell for 15 chipping a catch to mid on.

Taylor did have a life on 13 when a straightforward chance was grassed at midwicket but from then on there were no hiccups as he used a very cautious approach to accumulate runs. Sewdial came in and scored a brisk 28 in 18 balls as USA reached 118 in 22 overs when the rains returned to end play still 11 runs short of the original target. According to Duckworth Lewis rules, the par score was 76 at the time play was stopped.

In the day’s other matches, PNG captain Christopher Kent scored 166 not out to upstage the 150 scored by Canada’s Nitish Kumar in the first innings as PNG won by 4 wickets. Nepal beat Ireland by 10 runs on D/L Method as Rahul Vishvakarma took four wickets to go past USA’s Patel for the tournament lead. Afghanistan beat Kenya by 9 wickets in a rain reduced game while Scotland became the first team to clinch a spot at the 2012 ICC U-19 World Cup in Australia with a 40-run win over Namibia.

Scotland is currently top of the table at 6-1. Ireland and Nepal are both 5-2. USA is level with PNG at 4-3 but USA has a higher net run rate so is sitting at fourth. Namibia, Afghanistan and Canada are 3-4, Kenya is 2-5 while Vanuatu has officially been eliminated from contention for a top-six spot and is sitting at 0-7.

USA is scheduled to play Canada on Sunday at Bready Cricket Club’s second pitch. If USA beats Canada and Afghanistan loses to Vanuatu or Namibia loses to Ireland, USA will clinch a spot in the top six and along with it a berth at the 2012 ICC U-19 World Cup in Australia. Once again, DreamCricket.com will provide live coverage of USA’s match against Canada, subject to internet availability, beginning at 10:15 a.m. local time, 5:15 a.m. EST. The match is scheduled for a 10:45 a.m. start, but rain is in the forecast throughout Sunday morning and af