USA Cricketer : Greg Sewdial, George Dockrell

USA Cricket: Ireland U-19 prevails in nailbiter by 1 wicket over USA U-19 at 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier

openingbat — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:04:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna in Dublin, Ireland

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

Number eight batsman Adam Coughlin rescued Ireland U-19 from being 86 for 6 in the 25th over to score 49 runs in a one-wicket win for Ireland U-19 over USA U-19 at Clontarf CC on Thursday afternoon at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Dublin, Ireland. Coughlin was named Man of the Match after top scoring in the game. He was part of two vital stands, 46 runs for the seventh wicket and 40 runs for the eighth, to help Ireland get over the line.

“First of all I want to say hats off to the Irish team,” said USA U-19 captain Greg Sewdial. “I thought they played well. I thought they came back and their batsmen did their job. Unfortunately a few dropped catches proved to be costly for us.”

Image (right) - Adam Coughlin receives Man of the Match award from Cricket Ireland President Richard Johnson. [Courtesy: ICC/Rob O'Connor]

Ireland won the toss and elected to field first as the match got underway after a 50-minute delay due to morning rain. The initial breakthrough was made by Gloucestershire contracted fast bowler Graeme McCarter when he removed Cameron Mirza without scoring to make it 6 for 1 in the third over. Steven Taylor was joined by Amarnauth Persaud and the two added 63 runs for the second wicket, the highest partnership in the match. Taylor finally departed when edged an attempted drive to give wicketkeeper Niall Hodgins his second catch and medium pacer Barry McCarthy his first wicket.

McCarthy then claimed his second when Sewdial left for 4 after edging a full delivery to Jason van der Merwe at first slip to make the score 77 for 3 in the 23rd over. Ireland U-19 captain George Dockrell then entered the mix when he bowled Abhijit Joshi for 1 to make it 82 for 4 before McCarthy and Hodgins teamed up again to get rid of Persaud for 24 and USA was in trouble at 83 for 5 in the 25th over.

Pranay Suri tried his best to keep the Irish bowlers at bay, but finally got out for 8 when he came down the track and was beaten in flight to be bowled by off-spinner Andy McBrine to make the score 106 for 6 in the 38th over. Salman Ahmad joined Jodhbir Singh at the crease and the two put on 32 runs for the seventh wicket, doing their best to accelerate the scoring rate. Singh made the most of a second chance after he was dropped on 4 off a simple skied chance at mid on. He went on to score 36, tops in the USA innings, before he was stumped by Hodgins off McBrine to make it 138 for 7 in the 42nd over.

Ahmad and Shayan Abdulghani put on 36 for the eighth wicket as Abdulghani also benefitted off a dropped chance at cover when he was on 6. The two took USA into the final over before Ahmad was caught for 21 on the boundary off the bowling of medium pacer Josh Hall before Abdulghani was run out on the final ball of the innings for 20. USA finished their 50 overs at 177 for 9. Extras finished as the second best score for USA as Ireland gave away 35 of them, including 25 wides.

“Our first thoughts were I thought we were about 20 runs short,” said Sewdial. “Obviously in the end it proved to be short.”

Ireland’s chase was a struggle the entire way as the USA bowling attack bowled marvelously to keep the pressure on the hosts. Ahmad took the first of his three wickets when he had Hugh MacDonnell caught by Abdulghani at backward point for 7 to make it 8 for 1 in the third over. Mital Patel struck in the next over when he had Ireland’s other opener Ryan Hunter caught behind by Taylor for 4. Ahmad struck again in the fifth, as van der Merwe edged to Joshi at first slip for 4 and Ireland was behind the 8-ball at 16 for 3.

USA had a chance to create even more pressure when Adam Berry was fresh at the crease with Dockrell. Berry was on 1 with the score at 22 for 3 in the seventh over when he edged an Ahmad delivery to second slip where Sewdial put down a difficult chance diving to his left. As a result, the two batsmen produced a 53-run stand for the fourth wicket which was extended a second time when Gurpreet Sandhu dropped a skied chance at midwicket off Singh’s medium pace when Berry was on 17 and the score at 55 in the 17th over.

Berry’s stay finally came to an end when a thick edge off a drive went to Abdulghani at backward point to give Singh his first wicket. Two balls later, Singh trapped McBrine LBW to make it 69 for 5. Singh’s spell of medium pace got even better when he removed Dockrell for 29 to make it 86 for 6 in the 25th over when the captain drove Singh to Sewdial at cover.

“Defensively, I thought we played outstanding,” said Sewdial. “Our bowlers hit their areas. We had a long team meeting last night. Our bowlers did their job, did what they were supposed to do.”

At that stage USA looked ready to keep pressing on for victory, but Coughlan and McCarter focused on survival before delicately rebuilding the innings. Abdulghani and Suri tried to keep the pressure on bowling spin in tandem as Adbulghani’s second spell only conceded 18 runs in seven overs while Suri finished with figures of 10-1-37-0. The run rate steadily started to rise as Ireland inched toward the target.

McCarter finally perished when Abdulghani beat him in flight coming down the pitch to be stumped for 35 as the match swung back USA’s way at 132 for 7 in the 41st over. Just as soon as things were looking bright for the visitors, the hosts clawed their way back into control with Coughlan and McCarthy’s 40-run eighth wicket partnership. USA had a chance to stop the partnership for 17 at 149 in the 44th over when Coughlan was on 37 as he slogged Suri to deep midwicket, but Persaud couldn’t come up with a chance diving forward and the two batsmen moved on. That 44th over, Suri’s 10th, wound up being the first double-digit over of the innings for Ireland as they scored 11 runs in the frame to get their nose in front at 155 for 8.

They scored 10 more in the 47th to get within five runs of victory, but Ahmad had McCarthy caught down the leg side by Taylor for 17 and USA once again had the door open with a chance of winning. The door was pushed wide open when Patel struck on the second ball of the 48th over as Coughlan fell one short of his half-century, pinned on the crease by a full delivery and given LBW to make it 175 for 9 with 16 balls remaining and three runs needed to win.

Patel and Ahmad bowled eight consecutives dot balls between them after the fall of the wicket until a single off Ahmad’s final ball in the 49th over left Ireland needing two to win with the numbers 10 and 11, Hall and Hodgins, at the crease.

Image (right) - Mital Patel screams in delight after claiming Adam Coughlan's wicket to set up the thrilling finish. [Courtesy: ICC/Rob O'Connor]

Patel bowled four straight dot balls to start the final over, giving USA confidence with each delivery. But Hall decided to risk everything on the fifth ball and scooped a full delivery just out of the reach of Mirza’s diving effort at mid on as Ireland’s bench erupted in celebration while Coughlan breathed a sigh of relief.

For USA, it was a missed opportunity to score a massive upset against the hosts and now they have to regroup quickly before getting back into action on Friday morning against Papua New Guinea, who lost by 89 runs to Namibia in their first game. In the other three matches, a Nitish Kumar unbeaten century was the difference for Canada as they held on for a 6-run win over Scotland. Nepal defeated Afghanistan by 42 runs and Kenya had the widest margin of victory on day one with a 133-run win over Vanuatu.

DreamCricket.com’s live coverage of USA’s next contest against Papua New Guinea , made possible in part by New Inning Foundation, will start Friday morning at 10 a.m. local time with first ball due to be bowled at 10:45 a.m. in Dublin, 5:45 a.m. EST in the USA.

USA Cricket: USA U-19 eager to start campaign at 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier

openingbat — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:40:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna in Dublin, Ireland

Less than 24 hours before the start of tournament play, all 10 captains addressed the media Wednesday afternoon at a kickoff press conference for the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Dublin. The top six teams will advance to the 2012 ICC U-19 World Cup which will take place in August of next year in Queensland, Australia, according to the ICC’s official tournament guide. USA U-19 captain Greg Sewdial says that head coach Robin Singh has been doing his best to prepare the team for a top-six finish.

“We’re here to take each opponent as an equal,” said Sewdial during the media conference. “We’re here to play hard every game. We’re not here to generalize and just say we’re gonna beat this specific team. We’re gonna go hard every game and play our best.”

The USA U-19 team got a big confidence boost when they claimed a comfortable victory over a Strabane CC Select XI in the North West in a tournament warm-up match prior to arriving in Dublin where they’ll play Ireland on Thursday. Pranay Suri top scored with 69 not out and also took 1 for 22 in the field. Jodhbir Singh, who was playing for Strabane in the match, scored 57 against his USA U-19 teammates.

Sewdial says the players have done a decent job so far of adjusting to Irish conditions after playing their four-match series against the West Indies earlier this month in blistering south Florida heat.

“Obviously in comparison to conditions we’re completely different,” said Sewdial. “In Florida it was 95 degrees Fahrenheit every day compared to here which is about 60 to 55 and the ball seams around a bit. I think since then the team has done well to adjust from just looking at us in the nets and in practice. We’re looking to put our best foot forward for this tournament.”

After being one of the youngest faces in the team during his opportunities with the Ireland senior side, left-arm spinner George Dockrell is looking forward to taking on a leadership role as the captain of the Ireland U-19 squad.

“It’s definitely nice and I enjoy it,” said Dockrell. “It’s quite a change but I enjoy the responsibility with this team and leading them as captain. I have a bit more responsibility with the ball and the bat.” Dockrell took a five-for against Scotland U-19 in a warm-up match earlier in the week and generally bats in the middle order while playing for the Ireland U-19 team. He’s looking forward to the opportunity to play against the different styles showcased by each team in the event.

Image (above) - The 10 team captains pose with the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier Trophy. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]

“I think this tournament, you’re playing all different teams who you’re not used to playing who play slightly different styles of cricket than you’re used to,” said Dockrell. “So the thing is kind of being open, being quite versatile as a team and being able to adapt to different cricketers and how they play the game, being able to adapt quickly.”

All 10 teams were welcomed at the famous Croke Park Stadium on Wednesday evening for the tournament opening ceremony where they received welcome speeches from Dublin’s Lord Mayor Andrew Montague, Mayor of Fingal County Council Gerry McGuire, Cricket Ireland President Richard Johnson and ICC Tournament Director Eddie Fitzgibbon.

DreamCricket.com will provide live coverage for all of USA’s matches beginning with Thursday’s opening encounter at Clontarf CC against Ireland, the defending champions of this tournament. Coverage will begin at 5 a.m. EST in the USA with matches starting at 10:45 a.m. local time, 5:45 a.m. EST in the USA.

USA Cricket: Schedule released for 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier

openingbat — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:20:00 GMT

Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket

By Peter Della Penna

The International Cricket Council officially released the schedule on Monday for the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier beginning July 28 in Dublin, Ireland. According to the ICC media release, Greg Sewdial will captain the USA U-19 squad in Ireland.

USA will have their hands full immediately when they take on the hosts on day one of the tournament. Ireland is captained by left-arm spinner George Dockrell, who has garnered respect worldwide for his performances at the senior level.

The following day, USA takes on a Papua New Guinea team featuring seam bowler Raymond Haoda, the leading wicket-taker at the 2010 ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand with 15 scalps. They are captained by Christopher Kent, who played with the senior team against the USA men at ICC World Cricket League Division Three in Hong Kong last January. PNG was the first place finisher in the ICC East Asia-Pacific Region Qualifier in February.

After a rest day on July 30, USA must play the first place teams from Africa and Asia on back to back days. First up is Namibia on July 30 before they square off against Afghanistan on August 1 on the team’s final day in Dublin. August 2 is a travel day for all teams as the tournament shifts northwest to Londonderry in Northern Ireland.

USA plays Scotland on August 3, the top qualifier out of Europe. Another rest day follows on August 4 before USA commences a grueling slate of three games in three days against Kenya, Vanuatu and Canada. Nitish Kumar returns to the Canadian squad after missing out on the ICC Americas Qualifier in February to travel with the men’s team to India for the 2011 ICC World Cup.

A final rest day follows on August 8 before USA finishes up the tournament against Nepal on August 9. The second place finisher out of Asia features left-arm spinner Rahul Vishvakarma, who took 7 for 15 against the USA men’s team at ICC World Cricket League Division Five in Nepal last year.

All matches for the tournament are scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m. local time, 5:45 a.m. EST in the US. Conditions permitting, DreamCricket.com will provide live coverage for all of the USA U-19 team’s matches at the tournament.

Prior to leaving for Ireland, the USA U-19 squad will be playing four matches against West Indies U-19 in Florida beginning on Friday July 8 at the Central Broward Regional Park. West Indies U-19 will be captained by Kraigg Brathwaite who was the second highest scorer at the 2010 ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand with 335 runs. He scored 168 not out in April against Australia U-19 in a three-day youth Test before making his Test debut for the West Indies against Pakistan in May. He made his first-class debut at age 16 for Barbados and has two first-class centuries to his name.

DreamCricket.com will also provide live coverage for every match between USA U-19 and West Indies U-19 in Lauderhill on July 8, 10, 12 and 14. Matches are expected to begin at 10 a.m. EST.