By Peter Della Penna

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Coming off back-to-back losses to finish third in Group A at the ICC World T20 Qualifier in Dubai, USA wiped the slate clean and started off with a solid win against Region 3 XI, a Nepal zonal side in a 50-over warm-up match on Wednesday at Tribhuvan University in the Kirtipur section of Kathmandu, Nepal. USA won by 73 runs and Lennox Cush was named Man of the Match with a blistering 92 off of 52 balls.

USA won the toss and batted first in an effort to give several players some much needed time at the crease. Clain Williams opened the batting with Orlando Baker and was the first to go, caught behind for 28 off the medium pace of Rom Shrestha to make it 47 for 1 in the 7th over.

Pic (Right): USA assistant coach Dipak Patel gives some spin bowling tips to some local college players who came by to watch the practice match. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna]

Baker was joined by Steve Massiah as the two then continued with the solid start. Massiah took his time to ease his way in and gave as much of the strike to Baker as possible. Baker played a series of lovely shots around the wicket to bring up his 50 before he was out a short time later for 56, chipping a simple return catch back to medium pacer Sunam Gautam to make the score 122 for 2 in the 25th.

Then it was time for Cush to come to the wicket and in no time he raced by Massiah. He was particularly strong straight down the ground, lofting a series of deliveries from the spinners into and over the sight screens. His 50 was brought up in only 30 balls.

Nepal received a boost when Massiah and then Aditya Thyagarajan were out in the span of six balls. Massiah finally departed LBW to the medium pace of Kalam Ali for 37 to make it 187 for 3 in the 36th over before Thyagarajan was caught behind for 1 off of Shrestha playing a flat footed drive to make it 188 for 4 in the 37th. Cush was joined by Sudesh Dhaniram and continued to motor along before he finally was caught at long on with the score at 233 for 5 in the 41st over, but not before crushing eight fours and seven sixes in his knock.

Dhaniram and Saurabh Verma made small contributions while Rashard Marshall picked up the slack with USA’s third half-century as USA scored at more than 10 an over in the final 10 overs of the innings to take the total to 333 for 8 in 50 overs. Marshall retired on 61 off 35 balls with two fours and six sixes.

Region 3 made a rapid start in reply as Usman Shuja was given harsh treatment by the openers, Paresh Lohani and Subash Khakurel. Khakurel gave the home crowd of about 400 plenty to cheer about as he made his way to a brisk half-century with a series of lovely drives through the off side. Region 3 was scoring at better than eight runs per over and Massiah brought on Verma in the 9th over to bowl leg spin in an attempt to slow down the momentum. A few overs later it worked as Verma drew Khakurel fractionally out of his crease trying to drive. Khakurel missed and was expertly stumped by Baker for 50, making the score 95 for 1 in the 13th.

In the next over, Imran Awan was brought on and made a series of breakthroughs to stem the flow of runs and steal momentum back USA’s way. Lohani departed for 39 to an excellent catch by Shuja diving forward on the run coming in from long off.

Pic (Right): A stray dog makes friends with USA Team area in the hopes of getting some scraps of the team lunches. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna]

In Awan’s next over, Gautam mistimed one high in the air to midwicket in the circle where Timroy Allen took a straightforward catch to send Gautam back for 5. Rikesh Lama followed in the 18th as Awan clean bowled him for 4 to take three wickets in three consecutive overs. Region 3 was reduced to 116 for 4 and from there USA was in complete control.

USA continued to apply pressure and although the wickets didn’t fall as hoped to bring the match to an end, Region 3 never came close to getting to the target. Verma and Dhaniram bowled very good spells to stand out as Region 3 finished their 50 overs on 260 for 7. However, a major blemish on the match for USA was continued poor fielding as multiple dropped chances and some sloppy misfields and overthrows gifted Region 3 plenty of runs in their innings.

After the match, the USA squad was driven to the US Embassy in Kathmandu where the team was welcomed by a gathering of Marines and American staff who were excited to have a rare opportunity to meet a national team visiting Nepal. On Tuesday, the team made an appearance at an English language international school where some cricket demonstrations were given by the players to over 100 children in attendance. The team will take a tour to the Himalayas on Thursday outside of Kathmandu for a tourist experience and some time to relax ahead of what will be a busy tournament with six 50-over matches to be played in eight days. USA’s first official fixture is against Fiji on Saturday at the Engineering Campus Ground in Lalitpur.
 

Official Scorecard
WCL Division Five Warm-up Game
USA XI vs. Nepal Region 3 XI (11 bat/11 field)
USA won by 73 runs
USA won the toss and batted
Man of the Match: Lennox Cush

USA Batting
Batsman		Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
OM Baker+	56	81	7	0	c & b S Gautam
CH Williams	28	24	5	1	c Khakurel+ b R Shrestha
SJ Massiah*	37	74	3	0	LBW Ali
LJ Cush		92	52	8	7	c S Shrestha b Rana
A Thyagarajan	1	3	0	0	c Khakurel+ b R Shrestha
S Dhaniram	15	16	2	0	c Basnet b Rana
RA Marshall	61	35	2	6	retired out
TP Allen	3	4	0	0	c S Shrestha b Rana
S Verma		17	9	0	2	not out
KU Shuja	6	2	1	0	not out
Total Extras	17 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 6 leg byes, 11 wides)
Team Total 	333 for 8 in 50 overs

Did not bat: I Awan.

Fall of Wicket: 47/1 (Williams), 122/2 (Baker), 187/3 (Massiah), 188/4 (Thyagarajan), 
233/5 (Cush), 256/6 (Dhaniram), 273/7 (Allen), 312/8 (Marshall). 

Region 3 Bowling	Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
K Ali			5-0-45-1
A Rana		        10-0-87-3
R Shrestha		7-0-39-2
R Basnet		8-0-61-0
S Gautam		10-1-44-1
S Uday			6-0-32-0
R Lama		        4-0-19-0

Region 3 Batting
Batsman		Runs	Balls	4s	6s	Dismissal
P Lohani	39	43	7	0	c Shuja b Awan
S Khakurel+	50	37	7	2	st Baker+ b Verma
S Shrestha	33	34	3	1	st Baker+ b Dhaniram
S Gautam	5	12	1	0	c Allen b Awan
R Lama 		4	8	1	0	b Awan
S Uday		53	74	6	0	b Dhaniram
R Shrestha	40	82	1	1	not out
P Shakya	2	4	0	0	b Allen
B Gautam	7	6	1	0	not out
Total Extras	27 (0 no balls, 1 bye, 10 leg byes, 16 wides)
Team Total	260 for 7 in 50 overs

Did not bat: R Basnet*, A Rana. 

Fall of Wicket: 95/1 (Khakurel), 99/2 (Lohani), 111/3 (S Shrestha), 
116/4 (S Gautam), 147/5 (S Shrestha), 241/6 (Uday), 246/7 (Shakya). 

USA Bowling		Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
KG Darlington		4-0-16-0
KU Shuja		9-1-66-0
S Verma		        10-2-37-1
I Awan			4.5-1-30-3
LJ Cush		        0.1-0-0-0
S Dhaniram		5-0-20-2
TP Allen		6-0-25-1
A Thyagarajan		6-0-28-0
SJ Massiah		5-0-27-0