USA Cricketer : ICC Americas, Steve Massiah

USA Cricketers try to remain positive in spite of decision from ICC

openingbat — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:50:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

ICC's announcement on Wednesday that the number of teams in the 2015 World Cup has been trimmed from 14 to 10 was a severe blow to Associate Member cricket. However, USA’s players are trying to stay upbeat and maintain hope that an opportunity to qualify for the event hasn’t been eliminated.

“This doesn’t dampen my dream of playing in a World Cup,” said USA captain Steve Massiah. “It makes it more difficult to get there, but it would give you more motivation that you really have to work harder to qualify. With maybe two teams qualifying instead of four, the players should relish the challenge and want to work harder to get to the highest stage.”

“It will take a very special effort, but we have the natural talent to be very very competitive,” said Massiah. “I think we can go one or two again to come out of Division 3 and go on to Division 2 and with the players we have, we can be a force to be reckoned with. We haven’t lost to Bermuda in a long time and we beat the UAE in a warm-up game before the Twenty20 Qualifiers in February.”

USA vice-captain Sushil Nadkarni echoed Massiah’s sentiments, saying that the team is still focused on moving up through the World Cricket League.

“I think right now, USA probably has that 2015 World Cup at the back of its mind,” said Nadkarni. “But our focus is still Division 3 because even in the real world, you can’t get there unless you go division by division. It’s all about how we do in Hong Kong and then if we do well, then think about Division 2, but the World Cup is probably a distant dream right now.”

Nadkarni also said that the recent success of the team in 50 over cricket in the World Cricket League has provided optimism for younger players wanting to play.

“One thing I know that what this victory in Italy has done, and I’ve seen it around the US right now, it’s kind of given a sense of hope for US cricket,” said Nadkarni. “A lot of players are now looking forward to the future and I can see between the talks, the body language and the energy, a lot of youngsters are also looking forward to USA advancing to Division 3, Division 2 and then getting a chance in the future to represent USA and play good cricket.”

While the number of teams in the World Cup was reduced, the ICC elected to increase the number of teams from 12 to 16 at the next World Twenty20. Yet, Massiah doesn’t believe that Twenty20 should be forced upon young cricketers trying to develop their skills. He doesn’t want it to be the only format offered to them in the future.

“I personally don’t endorse Twenty20, but it is the game a lot of people feel is best to market to the American public,” said Massiah. “Twenty20 is just a slugout. It’s 50 over and four-day and Test cricket that really show the true caliber of a player, that tests the mental strength and abilities of a player. Twenty20 doesn’t show the true caliber of a player because often times opportunities are limited.”

Nadkarni also was not sold on Twenty20 being the path of future development.

“In the US, Twenty20 hasn’t caught on as big yet. It is catching up. It’s coming into the leagues slowly, but I don’t see kids really just wanting to play Twenty20 and not 50 over,” said Nadkarni. “If it’s Twenty20 that takes over in the next two years, then obviously they’ll be forced to play more Twenty20 cricket. But I don’t see that happening really. The 50 over game, the Test cricket, it still has its charm. It’s different from Twenty20 cricket that’s very fast and people just go crazy playing shots. There is still some skill involved in the 50 over game. I think the kids will want to play the 50 over game because that’s where they can show their skills.”

Nadkarni’s biggest worry is whether or not funding will be cut from Associate level teams, including the USA. Up in the air is whether or not the ICC’s High Performance Program, of which grooming players for a higher standard of 50 over and four-day cricket is a major component, will still be in existence if USA makes it to Division 1 in 2013.

“I think that’s the carrot that is driving our momentum right now, is to get to Division 2 or Division 1 and get into ICC’s High Performance Program,” said Nadkarni. “I don’t know if it will spell the end of the High Performance Program, but if US got into Division 2 or Division 1 and we don’t get the High Performance Program benefits, then that will kind of impact our overall development of cricket in the US, because we will continue to go up against top teams and not have that funding or the High Performance Program facilities that other teams have gotten so far, if that’s the case. But I don’t know if that’s going to be the case.”

Performance in Bermuda gives USA confidence for World Cricket League Div IV in Italy

openingbat — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:19:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

With five new players in USA’s squad that toured Bermuda, it was going to be hard for USA to defend their ICC Americas Division One title after going undefeated at the 50-over event two years ago in Lauderhill, Fla. While USA fell to Canada and finished second in that portion of the event in Bermuda, they did very well to come back to win the Twenty20 competition only days later in what USA captain Steve Massiah said was a flawless performance.

“The tournament as a whole I would like to think was a success for the United States,” said Massiah in an interview on Monday. “It was good for us to be crowned inaugural champions of the Twenty20 tournament because we’ll always be remembered in history as we won the first one. I thought it was the crowning achievement of the tour because it was known that we can play 50 overs but now we’ve demonstrated that we can be a force to be reckoned with in the Twenty20 game.”

USA team manager Imran Khan agreed that it was an impressive performance for the squad considering the fact that they were missing several frontline bowlers including Usman Shuja and Kevin Darlington as well as Imran Awan, who was the leading wicket-taker at the same event in 2008.

“I think we did much better than was expected of us,” said Khan in a separate interview on Monday. “The realistic proposition by everyone was not to finish below third, but we knew we could do quite well. The challenge was only in reality from Bermuda and Canada. I think we punched above our weight. I’m pretty happy with what happened.”

The solid performance in the 50-over event where the team went 4-1, including the demolition of Argentina and Cayman Islands, has given USA a big confidence boost ahead of the World Cricket League Division Four tournament in Italy this August.

“We knew we’re going to play against Cayman Islands and Argentina in Italy,” said Khan. “Our objective was to go out there and set a precedent and establish a psychological edge over them. We didn’t want to just go out and beat them. We wanted to smash them and it worked. They now know our strengths. Italy and Tanzania are kind of unknown quantities and it’s going to take some strategic planning on USACA’s part to help us out.”

“There’s two countries that we’re going to be coming up against in Italy and we will have already demoralized them in the sense that we completely outplayed them in the 50 over,” said Massiah. “We scored in excess of 300 against Argentina and bowled them for 200 and then we would have defeated Cayman Islands by 10 wickets in 15 overs. So I thought going forward we have taken the psychological edge so hopefully that can make it easier for us going to Italy.

“I’m pretty confident that we’ll come out of that division, but one thing we have to be conscious about is not to get complacent or not to think that we defeated these guys in this tournament and the same thing is gonna happen. Everybody is capable of playing anyone on a given day so we need to take a professional approach and we need to understand how important it is for us moving forward that we play good cricket on a consistent basis and not to take anyone for granted. The key thing is guarding against complacency. In the past we may have been guilty of being a little complacent, if you go back two years ago maybe when we lost to Jersey and failed to qualify in Jersey, so that’s the one thing I’d like to stress on is for us to not get complacent.”

While USA and Nepal, the two teams moving up from the WCL Division Five, are also favored to advance from Division Four into Division Three in Hong Kong next January, Massiah wants to stress that USA must keep focused in order to keep climbing up the ladder to get to the top rung of Associate teams.

“We’ve gotta stay focused and think of what’s ahead of us and how important it will be for us to continue to move forward because if we do well, there’s a good chance that by next year we could be back among the Associates,” said Massiah. “My immediate goal is to try my best to get USA back to where I think it belongs. It’s quite evident that Bermuda and Canada are ranked ahead of us. For us to defeat them, it just goes to show our talent level and to know that we are missing some of our key players in this tournament, hopefully when they are back we will definitely prove a handful for most of the teams.”

One of the features of this tournament was the infusion of young and fresh legs into the squad, something that had a great effect on the fielding.

“Unbelievably, surprisingly and magically good,” said Khan when asked to sum up the overall fielding performances on tour. “We did not drop catches. Our performances against Bermuda and Canada were some of the best I’ve ever seen. That may have something to do with our young guys on the field. [Muhammad] Ghous, [Moazzam] Imtiaz, Timroy Allen in the field really brought a lot of energy to the field. It’s the best US has fielded for quite some time and I think it had a lot to do with our younger legs as well.”

“That definitely is helpful when you’re younger because the legs are much younger and you’re able to withstand playing 9 games in 10 days,” said Massiah. “So I thought that really helped because when you’re younger it’s expected that you’ll have more energy and your fitness levels should be better than someone who has been playing competitively for 20 years.”

In terms of the veteran players, they did their part too. Aditya Thyagarajan had the highest individual score of any player in Bermuda with his 159 against Argentina and also finished second in the runs column. Ashhar Mehdi was named the best wicketkeeper at the event while Orlando Baker was once again a very crucial player for USA wherever he batted and bowled. However, it was 23-year-old Allen who seemed to be a catalyst for USA’s success in the eyes of Khan.

“Timroy Allen was the key to most of our victories,” said Khan. “When he opened the bowling in the T20s, he was fast and he was accurate and he shook everybody up. If we take the time to develop him, he could become a world class bowler.” Massiah also credited the start that Lennox Cush and Allen gave opening the bowling against Canada in the Twenty20 final as a major reason for winning the title.

Collectively, the new players did very well, but it was 20-year-old Ghous who turned the most heads in Bermuda. After delivering a series of strong performances while playing for the USA U-19 team over the last year, Ghous continued to demonstrate some impressive bowling in his first chance playing for the senior squad.

“The one new player which I would like to single out and I thought responded brilliantly was Ghous,” said Massiah. “Given that it’s his first opportunity at the senior level, I thought he responded brilliantly. His bowling was outstanding and I think he has the right attitude. He’s willing to learn and that’s good.” Ghous had the best economy rate for all bowlers in the 50-over competition with 2.56 runs per over. He also took six wickets in three matches before taking another four wickets in four Twenty20 games for USA.

“Muhammad Ghous was the find of the tournament,” said Khan. “He fielded well and bowled exceptionally. He bowled in tight situations, in the power plays. Cayman Islands got off to a great start and then he came on and tore them apart.”

Massiah also gave credit to Ghous for keeping a cool head batting at the end of the Twenty20 semifinal against Bermuda which helped push USA into the final against Canada and eventually to the Twenty20 title.

“I thought his innings against Bermuda in the semifinal, for a young player I thought it was very responsible the way he batted and full credit to [Rashard] Marshall for trusting him and giving him the confidence he needed,” said Massiah. “We required 14 runs in the last over and Marshall was the last recognized batsman there and he basically trusted Ghous with the strike and the young man responded brilliantly. His bowling was very good. It definitely augurs well for the future of cricket. I’m sure his performance should motivate the other younger players and the message should be clear that there’s a place for them in the future of US cricket.”

Khan also hopes that giving opportunities to players like Ghous will not just be a one off and that USA should start to lean more toward bringing in and keeping younger players in the squad for the future.

“I think the selectors need to identify them not because they have energy, but because they are promising,” said Khan. “We should not just leave them behind now, we should help develop them. By the time that Division Three and Division Two come around, some of the older guys might not be around so we need to start giving some of the younger guys a chance.

“Hopefully we’ll invest more time in our younger players, help them develop, and no matter where we go commercially, we need to focus on our younger players in the cricketing structure. Once we have that in place, everything will go forward. The impetus for us is to blood some younger players in the next tournament as well and look for some sort of domestic program to be initiated in the USA and start to build that and get the right people involved because there are some really good people involved and credit must go to them.”

Another thing that is necessary is consistent preparation and a greater amount of matches against better competition. USA got a chance to play against Jamaica before heading off to Bermuda. However, USA will be missing out on an opportunity to play in the newly formed West Indies domestic Twenty20 competition after it was announced over the weekend that Canada will be included to fill the eighth spot in the July event along with the seven regional first class teams in the Caribbean. The winning team will then move on to participate in the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa this September.

“Talking to Andy [Mohammed], Adrian Gordon and Muhammad Ghous and Imtiaz and Bilal Khan and Ashhar Mehdi, because their first match was against West Indian opposition, that kind of established the benchmark for them and that’s what they expected to have to play at for every match at this level,” said Khan. “So then when they came across the Cayman Islands and Bahamas, etc., they didn’t think about bowling to club players. They were thinking about bowling to Test match level players. Myself and [USA coach] Clayton Lambert are trying to impress upon USACA to get more involved in West Indies first class competition because the competition is higher.”

While Massiah has said in the past that USA’s failure to advance out of WCL Division Five in 2008 was due to a lack of preparation, he points to the fact that when USA has had good preparation, they have played very well.

“I’ll give two good examples of what America can be if we prepare well,” said Massiah. “The previous Americas championship that we won in Florida, prior to that we went to Guyana and played in a 50-over tournament and we came back and we played brilliantly. We went 5-0 and won the Americas Cup. Before going off to Bermuda, we had good preparation in terms of playing against a quality side in Jamaica. We went to Bermuda and we performed very good. So it just goes to show if we prepare very well moving forward, definitely we would be able to do well in future tournaments.”

At the moment, there is no planned preparation before the team leaves to go to the WCL Division Four in Bologna, Italy, scheduled for August 14-21, but Massiah hopes that USACA will organize something to get the team in rhythm before their first match.

“They will have us engaged in some sort of activities before we leave to Italy,” said Massiah.

WCL Division 5 Cricket: All round brilliance from Cush sees USA past Bahrain

openingbat — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:12:00 GMT

By Peter Della Penna

Lennox Cush followed up a sterling innings of 91 with two wickets in a handy spell of off-spin bowling to be named Man of the Match as USA held off a gutsy effort from Bahrain to win by 19 runs at the Birendra Sainik Maha Vidyalaya Ground at the Army School in Bhaktapur, just outside of Kathmandu, Nepal on Day Two of the ICC World Cricket League Division Five Tournament. Cush’s 91 is the highest score of the tournament thus far.

Pic (Right): Lennox Cush wasn't afraid to use his feet to the spinners, lofting one out of the ground here on his way to 91. [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]

“Today the bowler’s bowled very well early on,” said Cush. “You had to get in. I went in at a time where we were struggling a bit. They were on top of us. The ball was gripping and spinning on the wicket but I decided to counterattack.”

Carl Wright and Orlando Baker got USA off to a good start with a half-century partnership as they played the medium pace of Yaser Sadeq and Hamal Abbasi with ease. However, things started to turn around for Bahrain with the introduction of left-arm orthodox spinner Qadar Sayeed. Wright tried to hit against the spin and skied a top edge to point to be out for 22 at the start of the 14th over to make it 64 for 1. Sayeed struck in his next over only four runs later, getting one to grip the pitch as Baker chipped a return catch to the bowler to walk off for 34.

Cush then came in and combined with Steve Massiah to wrestle back momentum for USA. While Massiah nudged and nurdled for ones and twos trying to rebuild the innings for his team, Cush set the tone for his own innings on the sixth ball he faced, coming down the track to smash Sayeed over long off and into a Pepsi sign past the boundary for a big six. In the next over against the off-spin of Adil Hanif, Cush cleared the ropes again over long off to put the Bahrain attack on the back foot. Massiah was happy to give Cush the strike when possible and the captain didn’t hit his first boundary until he was 41 balls into his innings when he smoked one through the covers. The two put on 140 runs together before Cush was finally bowled by off-spinner Zafar Zaheer, around early trying to pull a good length ball, and the score became 208 for 3 in the 43rd over.

Wickets then fell fairly rapidly to end the innings as Zaheer accounted for Rashard Marshall for 16 to make it 240 for 4. Aditya Thyagarajan fell four runs later for a duck as Zaheer got his third and then Massiah finally was dismissed for a grind it out 67 to make it 251 for 6 in the 48th over. A small burst from Timroy Allen brought USA up to 273 for 6 at the end of their 50 overs.

Bahrain, who had been rolled over for 98 on Saturday by Singapore, came out fighting hard against USA. Shahzad Ahmed and Imran Sajjad showed no signs of trouble against the opening pace combo of Kevin Darlington and Allen, taking the score to 55 before Imran Awan came on to dismiss Ahmed LBW for 16 playing across to a full length delivery.

Pic (Right): Cush's bowling was also instrumental in USA's win as he took 2 for 44 in 10 overs. [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]

Abdul Majeed came out at number three and the score accelerated even faster as both he and Sajjad repeatedly cross batted anything marginally short to the ropes. Sajjad looked very dangerous the longer he stayed out there as he refused to slow down his pace, but it proved to be his downfall in the end as he swung across the line one too many times. Cush came on to bowl off-spin in the 17th over and on the last ball of his fourth over, sent down a good length ball that Sajjad couldn’t resist. He went for a big heave but was around far too early and the stumps were knocked back as Sajjad departed for 75 to make it 131 for 2 in 23 overs.

Bahrain had an excellent run rate and was well on course to chase down the runs, but after Sajjad fell, they couldn’t construct a decent partnership to build up some steam to get them to the target. The next blow for USA was struck by Baker, who got Ashraf Yaqoob LBW for 6 to one that kept low to make it 145 for 3. Baker then took care of the set batsman Majeed for 47 on the first ball of the 34th over. Majeed had been dropped on back-to-back deliveries off of Baker in the 32nd over, but the mistakes didn’t cost USA much. Massiah erased those memories with a superb effort running from cover to take a skied chance at mid off making the score 162 for 4.

Bahrain looked like they were still in with a chance when Hanif, who came in at number five, was at the crease. He put on 42 runs with Azeem ul Haq before ul Haq was out LBW for 9 trying to sweep the off-spin of Sudesh Dhaniram, who bowled a very stingy 10-over spell to stem the flow of runs for Bahrain. Hanif was the next man out for 46 to make it 227 for 6 in the 45th over, top edging a pull off a short delivery from Darlington to give a simple catch to Wright behind the stumps. From there, Bahrain’s hopes vanished and it was only a matter of time before the match was wrapped up. Cush took another wicket while Allen came back on to bowl off-spin after opening the innings bowling pace alongside Darlington. Allen took two wickets in three balls in the 48th over before Darlington sealed the match bowling Abbasi with a yorker in the 49th as Bahrain was bowled out for 254.

USA now moves to 2-0 in the tournament to top the table along with Nepal, who followed up a victory over Jersey on Saturday with a thumping nine-wicket win over Fiji on Sunday. Jersey beat Singapore on Sunday to make both teams 1-1 while Bahrain and Fiji are at 0-2. Everyone has an off day on Monday while the action resumes on Tuesday with USA taking on Jersey at Tribhuvan University. The match is scheduled for a 9 a.m. start, 10:15 p.m. EST Monday night in the USA with live coverage on Dreamcricket.com.

Official Scorecard
ICC WCL Division Five
Bahrain vs. USA
USA won by 19 runs
USA won the toss and elected to bat
Man of the Match: Lennox Cush

USA Batting
Batsman 		Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
CD Wright+ 		22	34	3	0	ct Yaqoob b Sayeed
OM Baker		34	56	5	0	c & b Sayeed
SJ Massiah*		67	92	3	2	ct Sayeed b Dar
LJ Cush		        91	90	11	2	b Zaheer
RA Marshall		16	10	1	1	st Ahmed+ b Zaheer
A Thyagarajan		0	3	0	0	ct Abbasi b Zaheer
S Dhaniram		3	8	0	0	not out
TP Allen		12	9	0	1	not out
Total Extras		28 (2 no balls, 4 byes, 6 leg byes, 16 wides)
Team Total 		273 for 6 in 50 overs

Did not bat: S Verma, I Awan, KG Darlington

Fall of Wicket: 64/1 (Wright), 68/2 (Baker), 208/3 (Cush), 
240/4 (Marshall), 244/5 (Thyagarajan), 251/6 (Massiah). 

Bahrain Bowling	Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
Y Sadeq		        5-0-31-0
H Abbasi		6-1-37-0
Q Sayeed		8-0-36-2
A Hanif		        5-0-18-0
T Dar			10-1-59-1
Z Zaheer		10-1-48-3
I Sajjad		6-0-34-0

Bahrain Batting
Batsman		Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
S Ahmed+ 		16	26	2	0	LBW Awan
I Sajjad		75	77	8	2	b Cush
A Majeed		47	60	5	0	ct Massiah b Baker
A Yaqoob 		6	17	1	0	LBW Baker
A Hanif 		46	56	4	0	ct Wright+ b Darlington
A ul Haq		9	16	0	0	LBW Dhaniram
T Dar			10	17	0	0	b Cush
Q Sayeed		4	8	0	0	ct Massiah b Allen
Y Sadeq*		12	7	0	1	b Allen
Z Zaheer		2	3	0	0	not out
H Abbasi		8	5	0	1	b Darlington
Total Extras		19 (0 no balls, 4 byes, 7 leg byes, 8 wides)
Team Total		254 all out in 48.4 overs

Fall of Wicket: 55/1 (Ahmed), 131/2 (Sajjad), 145/3 (Yaqoob), 162/4 (Majeed), 
204/5 (ul Haq), 227/6 (Hanif), 230/7 (Dar), 244/8 (Sadeq), 245/9 (Sayeed), 
254/10 (Abbasi). 

USA Bowling		Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
KG Darlington	        7.4-0-51-2
TP Allen		6-0-30-2
I Awan			3-0-23-1
S Dhaniram		10-1-34-1
S Verma		        2-0-17-0
LJ Cush		        10-1-44-2
OM Baker		10-0-44-2

Notes: Orlando Baker served as USA’s wicketkeeper for the first 
7 overs. Carl Wright then put on the pads to wicketkeep beginning 
with the 8th over until the end of the match.

Steve Massiah led assault produces 285-run victory for USA over Fiji

openingbat — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:21:00 GMT

By Peter Della Penna

Man of the Match Steve Massiah scored a brisk 74 with nine fours and a six to lead a USA rout over Fiji by 285 runs at the Pul Chowk Engineering College Ground in Kathmandu, Nepal on Day One of the ICC World Cricket League Division Five Tournament.

Pic (Right): USA captain Steve Massiah pulls hard on his way to 74 in a Man of the Match performance.[Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]

“It was a very pleasing knock,” said Massiah, who backed up an encouraging knock in USA’s warm-up match earlier in the week to top score for USA against Fiji. “I thought the warm up match did serve a purpose. My goal in the warm-up match was to spend as much time as possible in the middle because I needed that.”

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Fiji won the toss and elected to field and made their first breakthrough right at the start of the match as Carl Wright was run out in the first over for 1 with only two runs on the board for USA. Massiah calmly came to the wicket and after combining with Orlando Baker to see the shine off the new ball, Massiah became the aggressor in the partnership, punishing anything loose from the Fiji bowling attack.

Massiah was on 23 with the score on 58 for 1 at the start of the 12th over when he fully unleashed himself on medium pacer Jikoi Vanualevu Kida. Massiah bashed the first ball of the over for a boundary before the second was a dot ball. The third was belted straight down the ground for another four and a no ball was called to bring up a free hit. Massiah then picked up a length ball and heaved it over long on for a six before hitting another loose delivery next ball for a boundary. He mercifully allowed a dot next ball before taking a single to keep strike, producing 20 runs in the over to deflate Fiji in the field.

Massiah brought up his 50 with his eighth boundary as Baker did a great job giving him as much of the strike as possible. The two added 129 together before Massiah was run out on the third ball of the 24th over from leg spinner Viliame Yabaki to make it 131 for 2. For the second ball in a row, Massiah laced a bullet along the turf to mid off, who had come in at the start of the over, but after deciding against a single the first time, Massiah decided to take on the fielder, captain Josefa Rika. Massiah appeared to be well in, but the throw was a direct hit and a devasted and disbelieving Massiah had to walk off knowing he had missed a century.

“I thought it was a very very close decision,” said Massiah. “I thought personally that I had made it but at the end, the umpire gave me out and that’s what matters.”

Lennox Cush came to the crease and followed up a half-century in the warm-up game with another brisk contribution. After Baker was out for 46 to make it 150 for 3, Cush combined with Aditya Thyagarajan to produce an 84-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Pic (Left): Rashard Marshall goes for another big one as part of his blistering 61.[Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]

Cush once again made merry on short pitched bowling, heaving three sixes over the leg side in addition to four boundaries to bring up a half-century. But Thyagarajan and Cush fell in the space of nine runs, first Thyagarajan bowled off an inside edge for 39 going for a drive before Cush went packing trying to clear the off side boundary for another six to be out for 50 making it 243 for 5 in the 41st over as Josefa Dabea Balelcicia claimed both men.

It only provided an opportunity for Rashard Marshall and Timroy Allen to put the Fiji bowlers to the sword. USA took the batting power play at the start of the 43rd over with the score on 247 for 5 and in the next five overs, Marshall and Allen combined for 78 runs. After taking 17 off of Balelcicia in the 44th over, the two clobbered 23 in the 46th off the same bowler. Marshall started things off with a four and an elegant six clipped over fine leg before a leg bye was taken. Allen then defended a ball before pulverizing the next two balls over the leg side rope for back to back sixes.

Balelcicia got a small measure of revenge in the 48th over when he got Marshall to send one to long on to be out for 61 in only 28 balls, ending the sixth wicket partnership at 87 runs. The batsmen crossed in the air and Allen was given out LBW next ball for 32 in 17 deliveries to make the score 330 for 7. Saurabh Verma came in and clipped the hat trick ball through square leg for another USA boundary. He was run out for 6 when turned back by Clain Williams after taking off for a second run, but Williams and Imran Awan chipped in for a few runs at the end to get USA to 353 for 8 in their 50 overs.

“I thought it was a very very good team performance,” said Massiah. “Our goal was to get at least four to five half-century partnerships and I thought today we were very successful at doing that.”

USA came out after the innings break eager to bring the match to a quick end and it didn’t take long for the first wicket to fall as Kevin Darlington applied solid pressure on the openers until he trapped Joji Bulabalavu in front for 9 to make it 13 for 1 in the third over.

Pic (Right): Kevin Darlington's tight opening spell set the tone for USA in the field as he finished with 3 for 9. [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]

Darlington struck again on the final ball of his next over with an absolute gem, getting Fiji’s other opener Sekove Ravoka to edge one behind the stumps to Baker for 6 making it 22 for 2. Allen got in the act with the first ball of the eighth over as Tavo Sorovakatini played across and missed to be dead in front for 2 to make it 25 for 3. Darlington claimed his third scalp in the form of Kida who edged a ball off the shoulder of the bat to Marshall jogging in from point to make it 30 for 4 in the 9th.

After Cush and Baker teamed up for an outstanding stumping of Iniasi Cakacaka for 7, Awan ran through the lower order to take three wickets, despite struggling with his line especially to the left-handers Rika and Balelcicia. Awan took 3 for 16 in 8 overs as he bowled Rika, Gregory Browne and Yabaki, but 9 of those 16 runs came off wides.

Verma came on and bowled two tidy overs, the second of which brought about his first wicket for USA in 50-over match play as he accounted for Taniela Waqaituinayau LBW for 1 before Baker came on for the 29th over and got Tukana Tavo out LBW for 2 to end the match as Fiji was bowled out for 68 in 28.2 overs. Extras were the top score with 21 while Balelcicia was the only player to cross double-digits, finishing 13 not out coming in at number six.

“The key thing is for us to be very disciplined whether we bat or bowl and to execute our game plan,” said Massiah. “I thought the bowlers did that brilliantly so it can only give us confidence moving forward. All in all, I thought we executed very well today.”

Post Match Interview vs. Fiji with Massiah from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

USA will take on Bahrain at the Army School Ground on Sunday in Kathmandu before having a rest day on Monday. The match is scheduled to start at 10:15 pm EST on Saturday night in America with live coverage on Dreamcricket.com as conditions permit.