Nitesh Kumar saved his best innings for last as Canada's captain scored 68 not out, getting Canada across the line with a tense 3-wicket victory over USA to win the ICC Americas Northern Division U-15 Tournament at Erskine Cricket Ground in Brooklyn, N.Y.

By Peter Della Penna

Nitesh Kumar saved his best innings for last as Canada’s captain scored 68 not out, getting Canada across the line with a tense 3-wicket victory over USA to win the ICC Americas Northern Division U-15 Tournament at Erskine Cricket Ground in Brooklyn, N.Y. Kumar was named Man of the Match and Man of the Tournament after finishing with the second most runs while topping the averages with 173 at 86.5, in addition to being tied for third in the wickets column with 8 at 10.50.

Team Canada Post Tournament Interview from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

“I thought until Nitesh is there, we had a hope,” said Canada coach Farouk Kirmani. “People play around Nitesh. He can take charge at the wicket and I told him what to do. Just stay there until the end of the game and we’ll be in a winning position.”

The match started an hour late because of overnight rain in Brooklyn. The outfield and pitch were fine, but the run ups for the bowlers needed some attention before play could begin. The ground staff did an outstanding job to get the game started with only a short delay.

With the sun shining bright, USA won the toss and elected to bat first with the winner of the match set to become the tournament champion. For the second day in a row, Stephan Rajasingam was the catalyst for Canada’s success at the start of the innings as he dismissed both openers, Vikram Valluri and Rishi Patel, with his left arm medium pace. When Vidura Ratnayake got USA captain Steven Taylor out in the fifth over, it left USA in a deep hole at 16 for 3 and they were never able to climb out of it.

After the early breakthroughs with pace, Canada then strangled USA into submission with tight spin bowling. The middle order of Arsh Buch, Trevis Ross and Amarnauth Persaud had a difficult time facing the pressure exerted by Michael Jansz, Nikhil Dutta, Trevor Manoosingh, Kumar and Shayan Ahmed. When loose balls were on offer, they were not put away and USA only scored two boundaries in the innings. Persaud top scored with 25 as USA finished at 127 for 9 in their 40 overs.

Team USA Post Tournament Interview from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

In the second innings, USA put in the most disciplined bowling performance of any team in the tournament to make Canada sweat. The first wide wasn’t delivered until the 15th over, just after Krish Goel had dismissed Manoosingh for a seven ball duck to make it 41 for 4. While Kumar opened and was cruising from ball one, his partners were not finding it so easy. It wasn’t until Ratnayake came in at number seven and scored a rapid 21 that a teammate gave Kumar any kind of help from the opposite end, but when Ratnayake was dismissed by Patel with the score at 87 for 6, it looked like USA just might defend their small total.

Kumar kept cool though and with Jeevan Sidhu giving him support, the captain steered Canada towards the target. He brought up his 50 in 66 balls as Canada’s contingent at the ground gave Kumar a big ovation. Sidhu got out with two needed to win, but on the next ball, Kumar hit the winning runs with a two wide of mid on to give Canada the match and the tournament title.

Team Bermuda Post Tournament Interview from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.

USA finished second with the loss while Bermuda finished third. Had Bermuda beaten USA in the first match of the tournament which USA won by one run, Bermuda would have been tournament champions because they would have finished level on points with Canada but would have won out with a superior net run rate.

At the post tournament trophy presentation, several honors were shared among the teams. While Kumar was named Man of the Tournament, Kamau Leverock of Bermuda was named the Best Bowler at the event after finishing tied with Ratnayake at nine wickets in four matches. Ratnayake was named Best Fielder for his brilliant fielding as he took five catches throughout the week and teamed up for a run out in the final match. Taylor was named Best Batsman after leading the runs list with 183 in four innings including two half-centuries. Christian Burgess was named Best Wicketkeeper for his tidy glovework, not to mention a series of stunning diving catches behind the stumps to finish with the most dismissals in the tournament.

Official Scorecard

ICC Americas Northern Division U-15 Tournament – Canada vs. USA
Canada won by 3 wickets
USA won the toss and batted
Man of the Match: Nitesh Kumar

USA Batting

Batsman        Runs    Balls    4s    6s    Dismissal
V Valluri               2       6        0      0    LBW Rajasingam
R Patel                2      11        0     0    ct Kumar bowled Rajasingam
S Taylor*+          12       9        0     1    ct Rajasingam bowled Ratnayake
A Buch                20     78       1     0    ct Dutta bowled Manoosingh
T Ross                14     33       0     1    ct Ahmed bowled Jansz
A Persaud           25     52      1     0    ct Sidhu bowled Gillar
K Edmondson     13    26       0    0    ct Shaikh bowled Kumar
R Varadarajan      8      6        0    1    runout (Ratnayake/Rajasingam/Ghosal+)
K Goel                  1      5        0    0    ct Sidhu bowled Kumar
O Singh                4      9        0    0    not out
P Pradhan            3       5       0    0    not out
Total Extras        23 (0 no balls, 1 bye, 1 leg bye, 21 wides)
Team Total        127 for 9 in 40 overs

Fall of wicket: 3/1 (Valluri), 16/2 (Patel), 16/3 (Taylor), 41/4 (Ross), 82/5 (Buch), 104/6 (Edmondson), 115/7 (Varadarajan), 117/8 (Persaud), 121/9 (Goel).

Canada Bowling    Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
V Ratnayake          6-1-25-1
S Rajasingam        5-1-9-2
M Jansz                 4-1-7-1
N Dutta                  3-0-10-0
T Manoosingh        4-1-12-1
N Kumar                8-1-22-2
S Ahmed               5-1-18-0
A Gillar                  5-0-22-1

Canada Batting

Batsman              Runs    Balls    4s    6s    Dismissal
N Kumar*               68    90    5    0    not out
S Rajasingam        1      10    0    0    ct Singh bowled Pradhan
T Shaikh                2       12    0    0    ct Patel bowled Goel
N Dutta                  5       19    1    0    runout (Goel/Taylor+)
T Manoosingh        0        7    0    0    st Taylor bowled Goel
S Ahmed                9       12    0    0    ct Varadarajan bowled Patel
V Ratnayake         21      11    1    2    ct Buch bowled Patel
J Sidhu                   8       37    0    0    ct Buch bowled Pradhan
A Gillar                   0         0    0    0    not out
Total Extras           14 (0 no balls, 3 byes, 2 leg byes, 9 wides)
Team Total        128 for 7 in 32.5 overs

Did not bat: A Ghosal+, M Jansz

Fall of wicket: 7/1 (Rajasingam), 29/2 (Shaikh), 40/3 (Dutta), 41/4 (Manoosingh), 62/5 (Ahmed), 87/6 (Ratnayake), 126/7 (Sidhu).

USA Bowling        Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
P Pradhan             4.5-0-15-2
A Buch                   4-0-12-0
T Ross                    8-1-19-0
K Goel                    7-0-27-2
V Valluri                  2-0-9-0
R Varadarajan         3-0-19-0
R Patel                   4-0-22-2