USA Cricket: Middle order failure dooms USA in 10-run loss to Canada at 2011 ICC Americas T20

openingbat — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 04:52:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

After surviving an early onslaught from opening batsman Khushroo Wadia, USA bowled Canada out for 131 but a failure to accelerate in the middle overs doomed USA’s chase as they lost by 10 runs to Canada on Friday night inside the Central Broward Regional Park stadium at the 2011 ICC Americas Division One T20 tournament in Lauderhill, Florida. Wadia was named Man of the Match after top scoring on the evening with 56 in 35 balls including eight boundaries and a six.

“Khushroo was batting well throughout the innings and throughout the week,” said Canada captain Jimmy Hansra. “Khushroo’s been having amazing form. He’s helping us out for sure in the top order. Today we had a bit of a collapse in the middle that tells you about the inexperience in the squad, but we fought back hard. It’s low total games here in Florida. Unfortunately the wickets aren’t suitable for T20 cricket, but we battled hard, we fielded well and I think that’s when the young squad comes in handy.”

Canada won the toss and elected to bat first in the late afternoon sun. Wadia and Jason Sandher got Canada off to a brilliant start with a 72-run opening stand that could have potentially been nipped in the bud before a run was put on the board. Sandher slashed the second ball of the innings from fast bowler Usman Shuja high in the air toward Muhammad Ghous on the third man boundary, but Ghous reacted poorly to the ball coming off the bat and it eventually landed a few yards to his right before bouncing over the rope for four. It was a harbinger of things to come as USA’s fielding on the evening remained lackluster with several half-chances left on the table.

In the fifth over, Wadia feasted on Shuja’s bowling for 22 runs, punishing the USA pacer for straying in line by hitting four of the five boundaries in the over on the leg side. Left-arm spinner Bhim George finally broke the stand on the last ball of the ninth over by clean bowling Sandher for 23 with one that kept low. Wickets fell fast and furious for the rest of the innings as the next nine partnerships combined to produce fewer runs in the last 11 overs than Wadia and Sandher did in the first nine.

Image (right) - Khushroo Wadia was named Man of the Match for his 56 in 35 balls, with eight fours and one six. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]

Wadia crossed 50 in 32 balls during George’s next over, bashing a six over long on but George got revenge three balls later as Wadia chipped a half-tracker straight back to the spinner, who held on to a low return catch. Ghous claimed his first wicket of the tournament bowling Hansra for 9. George took his third when he had Usman Limbada stumped by Akeem Dodson for 1 to make it 99 for 4 and Jonathan Snow holed out to deep midwicket off the bowling of Orlando Baker to make it 107 for 5 in the 15th.

Trevin Bastiampillai and Hamza Tariq tried to reestablish momentum for Canada as their 18-run stand for the sixth wicket was Canada’s second largest of the innings. However, their partnership ended when Bastiampillai was foolishly run out for 22 trying to steal a run off a misfield. Canada could only add six runs for the final four wickets as Baker claimed two more while Steve Massiah took one and then ran out Grant Broadhurst off his own bowling to wrap up the innings four balls early as Canada was bowled out for 131 in 19.2 overs.

USA’s chase got off to a rocky start when Gowkaran Roopnarine was clean bowled without scoring by medium pacer Satsimranjit Singh Dhindsa to make it 3 for 1 in the first over. Sushil Nadkarni was then joined by Aditya Mishra and USA’s two most impressive batsmen this week added 39 for the second wicket in 6.1 overs before Hansra’s off-spin had Mishra out caught for 19 when a massive inside edge ricocheted off Mishra’s pads straight to Grant Broadhurst at short third man.

While Nadkarni played fluently at the other end, Massiah came in and struggled to time the ball, scoring 3 runs off his first 11 deliveries. Nadkarni started to display more aggression to keep the scoring rate healthy, launching leg-spinner Junaid Siddiqui into the stands twice as part of a 16-run 12th over to make it 75 for 2. It was USA’s only double-digit over of the innings while Canada did it four times in their turn at bat.

Nadkarni perished for 40 at the start of the 13th when he edged Broadhurst’s medium pace through to the keeper Tariq. With Quasen Alfred sitting out of the lineup, the rest of the batting order lacked the firepower to reach the ropes, let alone clear them. USA only registered five fours in the entire innings and had none from the time Massiah hit one on the fourth ball of the 11th over by Hansra until the second ball of the final over.

Massiah was caught on the boundary for 17 off the bowling of Siddiqui to make it 81 for 4 and Japen Patel was next to go for 10 to give Dhindsa his second. Dhindsa’s third scalp came when he bowled Timroy Allen for 12 and USA’s chances of winning were rapidly slipping away at 111 for 6 in 18.4 overs. Shuja was run out on the next delivery trying to stretch one into two. George then came in at number nine and took a two off the final ball of the 19th over as USA needed 18 to win with six balls remaining.

The door was left slightly ajar by Canada after a first ball wide from left-arm spinner Zahid Hussain was followed by a single from Dodson and a boundary by George to turn the equation into 12 from four balls. However, Canada slammed the door shut when George was caught by Limbada on the midwicket boundary for 6 before Hussain bowled Dodson on the fourth ball of the over for 7 to leave USA at 120 for 9. Number 11 batsman Ghous needed to hit sixes off the final two balls for USA to win but he could only manage a single on the fifth ball, sealing the game for Canada before Baker defended the last ball as USA finished at 121 for 9, 10 runs short of Canada’s total.

“It was a commendable effort by Team USA to get back into the game after Canada were off to a brilliant start,” said Massiah. “I thought in the middle overs we lost our way a bit but obviously we’ve seen through the tournament that it gets difficult batting second, especially playing the third game today on this track. I wouldn’t take away anything from Canada. I thought they bowled well in the end and the seamers proved to be a little too much for us.”

USA now stands tied for second place with Bermuda at 3-1 while Canada tops the ladder at 4-0. Bermuda won earlier in the day by 10 wickets over Cayman Islands while Suriname scored their first win of the week as they beat Argentina by five wickets to leave their fellow South Americans winless.

Barring a stunning upset by Suriname, Canada is in line to finish first while Cayman Islands needs to beat Argentina to avoid creating a three-way tie at 1-4 for fourth place. USA takes on Bermuda on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. EST in a battle to decide second place. Live coverage on DreamCricket.com begins at 9 a.m.

USA Cricketer : Bhim George, Jimmy Hansra

USA Cricket: Middle order failure dooms USA in 10-run loss to Canada at 2011 ICC Americas T20