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Denmark captain Michael Pedersen made the most of three let offs in the field by USA to top score with 78 not out as he lead Denmark to a 30-run win over the United States at Mission Road on Sunday at ICC WCL Division Three in Hong Kong. Pedersen was named Man of the Match after he followed up his batting effort with 4 for 35 bowling gentle off-spin that gave USA more problems than they could handle.

 

Pic (Right): Orlando Baker high fives Steve Massiah after bowling Freddie Klokker. Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

 

“Hopefully we’re gonna regroup,” said USA head coach Clayton Lambert. “We always seem to have one bad game and second day of the tournament seems to be when we do it. We still fancy ourselves. We think we can go with any of the teams pound for pound. We’ve made it hard but we’re gonna be playing. We want to get to Division Two.”

 

USA won the toss and elected to field first. Denmark’s openers Freddie Klokker and Yasir Iqbal did a good job seeing off the new ball, putting on 50 runs for the first wicket. The partnership was broken when Orlando Baker entered the attack and with only his second delivery beat Klokker’s attempted drive to bowl him for 24. Iqbal left 25 runs later for 31 when he slogged Asif Khan against the spin to Rashard Marshall at deep midwicket giving Khan his first wicket in a USA uniform.

 

Lennox Cush came on and in his second over claimed Rizwan Mahmood for 3 with a bad ball that was yanked flat and hard straight to deep fine leg where Khan took a sharp catch to make it 82 for 3 in the 24^th. Khan should have had Pedersen out for 23 in the 27^th with the score at 90 for 3. The batsman top edged an attempted pull out toward the midwicket boundary. Sushil Nadkarni ran a long way to his left and reached forward getting two hands to the ball but was off balance and somersaulted while spilling the chance.

 

Khan continued to probe away until he got Carsten Pedersen LBW for 12 after the batsman was late on a paddle sweep to make it 114 for 4 in the 35^th over. Michael Pedersen’s next let off came when he was on 46 at 138 for 4 when he chipped a full length ball to deep midwicket again where substitute fielder Durale Forrest circled around it and dove late to get two hands to it but was unable to hang on. Forrest and Ryan Corns were on the field because Aditya Thyagarajan went off with a sprained left ankle at the end of the 11^th over while Nadkarni also needed treatment after falling awkwardly during his earlier dropped catch off Pedersen.

 

Pedersen ran out his partner Naveed Mughal for 5 to make it 143 for 5 on the last ball of the 41^st. Pedersen guided a good length ball from Baker behind point in the territory of Marshall. There was never a run, but Mughal responded to Pedersen’s call and with one stump to aim at Marshall connected with a direct hit to send Mughal packing.

 

Jacob Larsen was bowled for 2 going for a big heave off Kevin Darlington to make it 149 for 6. Pedersen continued into the final over where he was dropped for a third time on 70. Darlington bowled a thigh high full toss outside off that Pedersen top edged while going to pull. Steve Massiah backpedaled from cover in the circle and appeared to be comfortably under it but spilled the chance while tumbling backward to the ground. Pedersen wound up taking eight runs off the bat and 11 total in the final over to finish unbeaten on 78. Denmark finished their 50 overs 193 for 6. Khan was USA’s standout bowler with 2 for 31.

 

Pic (Left): Kevin Darlington bowls Jacob Larsen. Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

 

“I thought we bowled well enough to bowl this team out for 160,” said Lambert. “We dropped a number of important catches and that eventually led to them making 190. But 190 on this field, short straight boundary, very fast outfield, I would back us to make it every day of the week.”

 

USA received an early setback in the chase when Baker prodded forward to a good length ball from Aftab Ahmed and gave a healthy edge to Iqbal at first slip. Baker was out for 6 to make it 9 for 1 on the last ball of the fourth over. Massiah joined Carl Wright and the two effortlessly breezed their way towards the target by adding 54 runs for the second wicket. Wright in particular pulverized anything short and was scoring at a run a ball when he reached 42.

 

Massiah then fell for 15 to medium pacer Larsen on the first of several questionable LBW decisions. Larsen bowled a good length ball that Massiah stretched well forward to defend and was hit halfway up the front pad. A strong appeal was belted out and upheld, much to the chagrin of Massiah to make it 63 for 2 in the 13^th over.

 

Lennox Cush came in next and after cracking two sixes and a four, faced up to the seemingly innocuous flighted off-spin of Michael Pedersen. After defending three balls in a row, Cush tried to use his long reach for an ill-advised heave toward the long on boundary. He failed to get to the pitch of the ball and skied a chance to mid on. Ahmed ran in about 25 yards from the long on rope to take the catch on the run making it 84 for 3.

 

That wicket was the turning point for the collapse that ensued. After Wright got to 42 in 42 balls, he spent a very long time at the non-striker’s end as Massiah, Cush and then Nadkarni were unable to turn over the strike to keep Wright’s momentum going forward. When he finally got to face a few deliveries again, it was clear he had gone cold and it showed when he mistimed an attempted pull off Pedersen, playing over the top of a ball that was fractionally short to be hit dead in front and he left for 43.

 

USA was reduced to 85 for 4 and from that point forward, USA’s batsmen went into a shell. Anything short and wide that had previously been punished to the boundary was now being gently tapped to a fielder in the circle. It was clear the momentum had shifted Denmark’s way.

 

Leg-spinner Bobby Chawla came on for Pedersen to start the 22^nd over and on his very first delivery, he removed Nadkarni for 2. Chawla bowled a good length ball that Nadkarni went on the back foot to cut and got a toe edge to the keeper Klokker to make it 111 for 5.

 

Aditya Thyagarajan entered without the aid of a runner and looked fine running between the wickets with Rashard Marshall. He had scored 8 when he was foxed by Chawla with a googly to be bowled through the gate and USA fell further to 122 for 6. After his drive missed, Thyagarajan fell back clutching his right leg. He remained on the field for several minutes before he was carried off by his teammates. According to USA Physio Akhtar Masood Syed, Thyagarajan most likely had a ruptured tendon in his knee but no official diagnosis had been made. Thyagarajan was taken to a hospital for further evaluation and will be out for the rest of the tournament.

 

 

“We will have to look at whom we’re gonna bring in,” said Lambert. “All three of the guys can come in. It depends on if we feel we need an extra bowler or if it’s just a batsman. If it’s a batsman, then Kadu is probably the most solid of the three guys.”

 

“We lose Aditya. We will just have to pick up the slack. It’s unfortunate but the guys will have to be more responsible.”

 

Marshall was joined by Shuja and the two looked capable of still carrying USA over the line with 72 needed to win and 24 overs to get there. But USA’s second bad LBW decision happened when Shuja fell for 6. Chawla bowled a good length ball on the legs that looked to be missing leg comfortably. Chawla went up in appeal without much support from the keeper, but after a very lengthy deliberation, umpire Kevin Bishop gave him out leaving Shuja stunned and USA sunk to 136 for 7.

 

Marshall fell in the next over when his front foot defense was beaten by Pedersen to knock back the stumps. With Marshall gone for 31, USA’s hopes were officially dashed. Asif Khan played a valiant knock coming in at nine to finish with 17 not out, playing both spinners with ease where his teammates struggled badly. Ghous gave a simple edge behind to Pedersen before the match ended when Kevin Darlington suffered another poor LBW decision from umpire Bishop that had the USA bench fuming. Camera footage allegedly showed Darlington was hit on the gloves coming forward to defend, with the ball looking to be missing leg regardless. Once again, only Chawla went up for an LBW appeal but after another long delay, Darlington was given out to end the match. Denmark erupted on the field to celebrate a victory that seemed unlikely at the innings break.

 

“That’s how cricket goes, sometimes the team can crumble,” said Lambert. “I’m hoping that we think about it and tomorrow maybe get some nets. All I ask for is a professional effort from the guys and time and again they’ve shown me that they will rise up.”

 

In the day’s other matches, Oman beat Hong Kong by three wickets while Papua New Guinea topped Italy by 32 runs. PNG is 2-0 and will play USA on Tuesday at Hong Kong CC. Live coverage begins on DreamCricket Monday night at 7:45 p.m.

 

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