File photo credit: Peter Della Penna 

USA has arrived in Nepal for their Cricket World Cup League Two ODI tri-series after concluding their warm-up tour of Mumbai, where the team won one match and lost two. 

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Left-arm medium pacer Elmore Hutchinson may have sat on the bench for the entire tour of the UAE in December, but he has piled pressure onto team management to put him back into the starting XI by ending as USA’s leading player during their three-match warm-up tour in Mumbai ahead of USA’s visit to Nepal for a Cricket World Cup League Two ODI tri-series against Nepal and Oman.
 
USA lost two of three matches on tour as the batting unit struggled to adapt to conditions. The 37-year-old Hutchinson was the only player to score a half-century in USA’s three matches, belting seven sixes during his 57 off 40 balls against a Mumbai XI to lift USA up from 69 for 7 in the second match of the tour. He finished with 94 runs overall. Hutchinson also took eight wickets to lead USA in the bowling department, including 4 for 40 in their final encounter in Mumbai, a 108-run loss chasing a target of 280.
 
Aside from Hutchinson, the only other players to score more than 50 runs across the three matches on the entire tour were Akshay Homraj (81), Xavier Marshall (71), and Monank Patel (57). Ian Holland and Aaron Jones in particular struggled. The Hampshire allrounder scored two runs in three innings on tour opening the batting on each occasion. Meanwhile, the middle-order stalwart Jones managed just 8 runs in his three appearances.
 
USA’s spinners also found it difficult facing players accustomed to slow bowling in India. Outside of Timil Patel’s five-wicket haul in the first match victory on tour, the rest of the slow bowling unit struggled to make breakthroughs. Outside of Timil’s six wickets, the combination of Karima Gore, Steven Taylor, Nisarg Patel and Nosthush Kenjige took a total of six wickets across 45.3 overs.
 
USA arrived in Kathmandu Sunday night and had their first training session at Tribhuvan University Ground on Monday afternoon, the site of their four ODIs to be played against Oman and Nepal. USA has a final warm-up match scheduled against a Nepal Developmental XI on Tuesday February 4 at 9:30 am local time at Mulpani Cricket Ground, located 10 kilometers east of downtown Kathmandu. USA then has a day off on Wednesday before their first ODI of the tour against Oman on Thursday.