USA captain Steven Taylor was named Man of the Match for his scorching first innings knock of 86 from only 49 balls, but it was Trevis Ross who bowled USA to victory with a remarkable 4 for 18 in 3.3 overs, taking the final four wickets to end the match including two in two balls as USA won by 1 run to leave Bermuda stunned Monday afternoon at Erskine Cricket Ground in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“First of all I would like to congratulate all my team, the boys, they did a fantastic job,” said USA coach Raj Badadare. “For last two overs, I would say that it was difficult staying out [watching] than being [on the field] with a lot of butterflies, but the boys really played very well. Last two overs were emphatic. They kept their cool and that is needed. A few more improvements and mistakes we have to come over with, but we’ll be working on that, but an excellent victory. Three cheers for all the guys.”
Bermuda was set 201 to win and seemed to be cruising along with Jonte’ Smith and Shaquille Jones at the wicket. The two openers put on 98 runs for the first wicket, by far the biggest partnership of the match for either side. It took until USA used their seventh bowler, Rishi Patel to make a breakthrough when the legspinner struck with his very first ball, getting Jones to sky a sweep to Roshan Varadarajan at midwicket for 31.
Kamau Leverock came to the crease with the intention of destroying every bowler in his path. He clobbered three monstrous sixes to reach 25 in quick time, but then chipped a leg stump half volley from Orvindo “Chris” Singh straight to Amarnauth Persaud at midwicket to make it 136 for 2. Smith followed seven runs later for a well made 70 and two balls later Christian Burgess was out for 2, both men caught off the medium pace of Pranav Pradhan. Things spiraled out of control from there and Bermuda lost their last nine wickets for 63 runs.
Bermuda still looked like they would get across the line with 24 needed to win and four wickets in hand with 11 overs in which to do it. However, Ross turned the match on its head with his offspin bowling by taking a return catch off Kwasi James on the last ball of the 30th over to make it 184 for 7. He then returned to bowl the 34th over and on his first ball had Tre Manders pinned on the crease, hit on the knee roll to be given out LBW for 18 to make it 193 for 8. At the start of the 36th over, Bermuda needed just two runs to win with two wickets in hand, but after a dot ball to Winton Woodley, Ross clean bowled him to leave everyone at the ground on edge. On the very next delivery, Ross fired in a quicker ball past the bat of Kirt Brown to knock back the stumps, sparking a wild celebration on the field as the entire USA squad chased Ross around the ground while he sprinted away from the pitch in excitement.
Taylor helped build a platform that turned out to be just enough for USA to defend. He blitzed the Bermuda bowlers, showing particular fondness for the slog sweep as he peppered the leg side boundary to finish with seven 4s and seven 6s in his 86. His 50 came up in just 35 balls.
On Tuesday, Canada will take on Bermuda in the round robin tournament with play scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. in Brooklyn.
Official Scorecard
ICC Americas Northern Division U-15 Tournament - USA vs. Bermuda
USA won by 1 run
Bermuda won the toss and fielded
Man of the Match: Steven Taylor
USA Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
V Valluri 38 45 5 0 st Burgess+ bowled Gilbert
A Buch 16 47 1 0 ct Gilbert bowled Manders
S Taylor*+ 86 49 7 7 ct Jones bowled Leverock
A Persaud 8 22 1 0 ct Easton bowled Smith
R Varadarajan 0 5 0 0 ct Easton bowled Leverock
T Ross 2 5 0 0 runout (Leverock/Burgess+)
Z Zadoo 2 9 0 0 bowled Gilbert
K Goel 6 20 1 0 ct Burgess+ bowled Gilbert
O Singh 0 2 0 0 ct Pitcher bowled Gilbert
R Patel 2 7 0 0 ct Smith bowled Manders
P Pradhan 2 8 0 0 not out
Total Extras 38 (2 no balls, 1 bye, 0 leg byes, 35 wides)
Team Total 200 all out in 36.2 overs
Bermuda Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
W Woodley 3-0-24-0
K Brown 4-0-10-0
K Easton 5-0-30-0
J Gilbert 7-0-23-4
T Manders 5.2-0-28-2
J Smith 5-0-49-1
K Leverock 5-0-22-2
S Pitcher 2-0-13-0
Bermuda Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
J Smith 70 71 4 3 ct Ross bowled Pradhan
S Jones 31 54 3 0 ct Varadarajan bowled Patel
K Leverock 25 13 1 3 ct Persaud bowled Singh
C Burgess+ 2 3 0 0 ct Goel bowled Pradhan
J Gilbert 7 11 1 0 bowled Goel
S Pitcher* 17 18 1 1 ct Valluri bowled Goel
T Manders 18 17 1 0 LBW Ross
K James 0 6 0 0 c & b Ross
K Easton 4 13 0 0 not out
W Woodley 4 6 0 0 bowled Ross
K Brown 0 1 0 0 bowled Ross
Total Extras 21 (1 no ball, 3 byes, 1 leg bye, 16 wides)
Team Total 199 all out in 35.3 overs
Fall of Wicket: 98/1 (Jones), 136/2 (Leverock), 143/3 (Smith), 143/4 (Burgess), 166/5 (Pitcher), 177/6 (Gilbert), 184/7 (James), 193/8 (Manders), 199/9 (Woodley), 199/10 (Brown).
USA Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
P Pradhan 7-0-38-2
A Buch 5-0-17-0
A Persaud 1-0-5-0
K Goel 8-1-40-2
R Varadarajan 3-0-22-0
O Singh 6-0-32-1
R Patel 2-0-23-1
T Ross 3.3-0-18-4
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