Photo courtesy: Peter Della Penna

Timroy Allen produced an unbeaten 55 off 45 balls at USA T20 squad trials in Los Angeles to stake his claim for a return to USA's T20 squad for 2020 T20 World Cup Qualifying.

By DreamCricket Staff
 
Allrounder Timroy Allen saved his best innings for last at the USA T20 squad trials at Woodley Park in Los Angeles, striking an unbeaten 55 off 45 balls including four fours and three sixes for Team Red in the last of six trial matches on Monday afternoon at the USA Cricket T20 selection camp. It was one of just four half-centuries across all six trial matches held on the weekend and the only one scored by a batsman coming in below No. 3, with the others scored by Akshay Homraj, Xavier Marshall and Aaron Jones.
 
Allen entered at No. 6 with the score 39 for 4 in the eighth over and batted through to the finish, putting together a 37-run partnership with opener Shaheer Hassan – who scored a run-a-ball 31 that featured three fours and a six – followed by an unbeaten 43-run stand with Nisarg Patel, who ended 10 not out.
 
Allen’s innings revived Team Red after Abdullah Syed (0), Elmore Hutchinson (10), Srini Salver (7) and Cameron Steel (2) failed to get decent starts. The Durham-contracted Steel’s 2 off 11 balls concluded a selection camp in which he failed to hit a single boundary in four innings after flying across from England. His other knocks during the weekend were 4 off 10 balls, 0 off 1 ball and 22 off 24 balls.
 
USA captain Saurabh Netravalkar did most of the damage for Team Blue in his opening spell, clean bowling both Syed and Salver and ended the day with 2 for 18 in four overs. Left-arm spinners Srini Raghavan (1 for 28) and Nosthush Kenjige (1 for 18) as well as offspinner Vikas Mohan (1 for 8 in one over), also claimed wickets.
 
Team Blue chased a target of 120 with one ball to spare in reply. Marshall and Monank Patel both scored 27 in the chase, though Marshall did his in just 17 balls opening the second innings while Monank took 31 balls to get his. Akshay Homraj (20 off 21 balls) and Sagar Patel (20 off 34 balls) were the only others to cross double-digits.
 
Karima Gore took 2 for 15 in four overs of left-arm spin while medium pacer Sahaj Patel took 2 for 31 in three overs. Ali Samad (1 for 23 in 3.4 overs) and Usman Ashraf (1 for 6 in 1.1 overs) were the only other wicket-takers among the height bowlers used in the reply.
 
In the morning match played on Monday at Woodley, Team Blue scored 123 for 7 before restricting Team Red to 79 for 9 in reply. Tall fast bowler Kyle Phillip starred in the field for Team Red, taking 2 for 28 in four overs dismissing Monank (3 off 14 balls) with the new ball before coming back at the death to claim Allen (18 off 8 balls). He also contributed the runout of Jaskaran Malhotra (21 off 23 balls).
 
Kenjige produced the best bowling figures for Team Red with 2 for 16 in four overs, claiming Marshall (26 off 27 balls) and Jones (5 off 12). Nisarg was also miserly, turning in a spell of 1 for 19 in four overs to nab Hampshire’s Ian Holland (4 off 5 balls). Timil Patel was the only other wicket-taker, getting Steven Taylor for 5 off 5 balls. Hayden Walsh Jr. was the only batsman besides Marshall, Malhotra and Allen to cross double-figures, ending unbeaten on 24 off 24 balls.
 
In reply, Jessy Singh dismissed Homraj off the second ball of the chase before Nisarg ended the first over striking Jessy for three consecutive fours. It was the only significant scoring burst for Team Red as just three boundaries were struck across the rest of the innings. Nisarg top-scored with 17 off 19 balls before he was bowling by Taylor. Legspinner Ashraf claimed 3 for 14 in fours overs including a double-wicket maiden that nabbed Ali Samad for 11 and Salver for a golden duck.
 
Walsh Jr. bowled with the new ball and ended with 2 for 11 in four overs – taking the scalps of Sagar (2 off 11 balls) and Netravalkar (0 off 3 balls). Jessy took 2 for 14 in 2.1 overs while Gore ended with 1 for 6 in two overs and Taylor 1 for 9 in two.
 
The selection camp was organized to help pick a squad for USA’s next round of 2020 T20 World Cup Qualifying, which will be in Bermuda from August 18-25.