USA plummeted from 39 for 0 in the fourth over to be all out for 84 by the 22nd as Bermuda completed a remarkable turnaround in the field to win by 115 runs on Tuesday at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida on day two of the 2012 ICC Americas U-18 Match Play Camp. Tre Manders top scored with 88 for Bermuda in the first innings after being dropped on 9.
“I think apart from the pressure situation, basically most of these guys have not played on turf,” said USA coach Mumtaz Yusuf after the loss. “But I cannot hold that as an excuse, just because you didn’t play on turf wickets, for that collapse. Also, they have to realized that every time you can’t depend on one player. You can’t depend on Steven Taylor every time to get a 100 to bail you out.”
Bermuda won the toss and elected to bat first, posting 199 for 9 in their 50 overs. Bermuda made two changes from their lineup on Monday, leaving out Christian Burgess, who scored 50 against Canada, as well as Kamel Easton.
USA made an early breakthrough with the wicket of William White, caught at point by Krish Goel off the bowling of Randall Wilson in the second over to make it 8 for 1. Bermuda recovered to put on a 57-run partnership, one that could have been nipped in the bud at the start of the eighth over had Zahib Tariq held on to a lunging chance at short cover off Manders. The score was 30 for 1 at the time and Manders was still one run away from reaching double-figures. USA would pay dearly for the missed chance.
Tariq would finally break the partnership by having Shaquille Jones stumped for 25 when he shuffled down the track for a swipe at Tariq’s off-spin and missed badly. Tariq made it two in two when Onias Bascome drove his first delivery straight to Goel at point and the score was 65 for 3 in the 18th.
Alex Dore then teamed with Manders for a century stand as Bermuda took command of the match in addition to claiming two bonus points for the partnership. Dore was dropped on 21 with the score at 133 in the 34th when he tried to scoop leg-spinner Ryan Persaud over mid off. Roshan Varadarajan was fielding there in the circle when the ball was delivered but ran back 15 yards while the ball was in the air and appeared to have covered enough ground to make the catch. He reached out over his shoulder and got two hands to the ball but couldn’t claim it as the batsmen ran two.
The stand ended in the 42nd when Manders tried slogging Goel’s off-spin over Arsh Buch at long on but didn’t get enough elevation, hitting the ball flat and hard straight to Buch five yards in from the boundary to make it 166 for 4. Dore was run out in the next over for 39 after a mixup with new man Joshua Gilbert to make it 173 for 5.
Persaud then claimed his first two wickets on back-to-back balls in the 45th over. Gilbert was the first of the pair, lofting a full ball to Tariq at long off for 6 before Kwaisi James overbalanced on a wild swing and was stumped for 1. USA’s poor fielding reared its head again two overs later though to deny Ryan Persaud another scalp when Amarnauth Persaud missed a straightforward catch at long off. Delray Rawlins was on 2 and drove in the air to Amarnauth but the ball was parried over the rope for a boundary to compound the error. The three Bermuda batsmen who were dropped wound up scoring a combined 109 runs after they had been given a second life.
Ryan Persaud took his third when he foxed Christian Gibbons with a quicker ball for 6 in the 49th to make it 191 for 8 before Rawlins was run out for 16 with four balls to go in the innings to make it 196 for 9. Because Bermuda was able to bat out the final four deliveries without losing their 10th wicket, they achieved another bonus point, their fifth overall in the innings. Ryan Persaud finished with USA’s best figures in the innings by taking 3 for 45 in nine overs while Tariq was USA’s most economical, taking 2 for 30 in 10.
Just 21 balls into USA’s chase it appeared that the innings would be over in no time, but not in the manner that it finally turned out. Steven Taylor opened the batting with Shakeel Ahmad and Taylor proceeded to go on a rampage, giving especially harsh treatment to Gibbons in a second over which went for 23 runs. Midway through the fourth over, USA had 39 runs on the board when Taylor got a full toss on his knees and casually flicked it straight to Dore at square leg to depart for 25.
Ahmad played a scratchy knock before departing for 6 to make it 52 for 2 in the eighth when he tried to pull a full toss from Gibbons through mid on only for the ball to pop straight up to cover. Number three Amarnauth Persaud was the next to go for 17 to make it 67 for 3 in the 12th when he walked too far across his stumps to pull the seam bowling of James and was bowled behind his legs.
USA then added another seven runs before proceeding to lose their last seven wickets for just 10 runs as the middle and lower order collapsed in stunning fashion at the hands of Gilbert’s off-spin. Randall Wilson started the rapid coming and going back to the pavilion when he was out leg before for 6 playing across to a full delivery.
Gilbert and James then began building pressure in tandem as they didn’t allow a run off the bat from the 15th to the 19th overs. On the last ball of the 16th Vibhav Altekar pushed a ball behind point and tried to scamper a run but Goel failed to respond. Goel wound up being the player run out as he drifted out of his crease with both players at the same end.
Gilbert then struck twice in the 17th as Altekar tried to hit out in an attempt to relieve the pressure with 10 fielders in the circle but failed to clear Bascome at mid on. Tariq was out three balls later when he top edged a full toss to square leg to make it 77 for 7.
Dave Parikh was bowled through the gate in the 21st to give Gilbert his fourth before James wrapped up the match in the next over, trapping Buch and Ryan Persaud in front of the stumps for a pair of leg before decisions in the span of three deliveries to wipe out USA for 84 in 21.5 overs. Bermuda had reduced Canada to 77 for 6 on Monday but couldn’t close out a win while defending 198. On Tuesday they had USA at 77 for 6 and this time around were able to seal victory in relatively easy fashion. Gilbert finished with 4 for 17 in nine with three maidens while James took 3 for 10 in 5.5.
“I think this team could have performed much better,” said Yusuf. “They need to play for their pride. You cannot play the cricket that they played today plus I wanted some intensity. I saw there was no intensity when they were fielding.”
USA’s next match is Wednesday against Canada at the Central Broward Regional Park. DreamCricket.com’s live coverage, made possible in part by the New Inning Foundation, will begin at 9:30 a.m. EST.
Ryan Persaud took his third when he foxed Christian Gibbons with a quicker ball for 6 in the 49th to make it 191 for 8 before Rawlins was run out for 16 with four balls to go in the innings to make it 196 for 9. Because Bermuda was able to bat out the final four deliveries without losing their 10th wicket, they achieved another bonus point, their fifth overall in the innings. Ryan Persaud finished with USA’s best figures in the innings by taking 3 for 45 in nine overs while Tariq was USA’s most economical, taking 2 for 30 in 10.
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