File photo courtesy: Peter Della Penna

A slew of players raised their hands with impressive nuggets on both sides of the ball on the third day of USA T20 squad trials in Los Angeles. 

By DreamCricket Staff
 
Timil Patel followed up a sparkling cameo with the bat from earlier on the weekend with a stifling scoreline of 2-1-1-2 on Sunday in the day’s lone T20 trial match at Woodley Park in Los Angeles on day three of USA T20 squad trials. The legspinning allrounder was the only bowler on Team Red to take more than one wicket in the innings in which Team Blue was restricted to 84 for 9 in 20 overs.
 
Timil struck twice in the space of three balls in the 13^th over, claiming Akshay Homraj for an innings top score of 15 and Nisarg Patel for 6. Both Homraj and Nisarg had top-scored with 72 and 48 a day earlier in their respective innings during USA T20 squad trial matches on Saturday.
 
Aside from Timil, five other bowlers took solitary wickets in the innings: Kyle Phillip (1 for 13 in three overs), Ian Holland (1 for 16 in three overs), Karima Gore (1 for 9 in two overs), Hayden Walsh Jr. (1 for 8 in three overs), Rusty Theron (1 for 7 in two overs). Nosthush Kenjige returned 0 for 11 in two overs but pulled off a pair of runouts early in the innings to dismiss the opening combo of Xavier Marshall and Jaskaran Malhotra for 7 and 2 respectively.
 
Team Red were set a modified target of 150 to chase and ended on 133 for 6. Steven Taylor grinded 33 off 38 balls including four fours and a six after entering at No. 3. However, Holland top-scored in the chase with 45 off 28 balls, striking six fours and two sixes in his knock after having failed to strike a single boundary in any of his innings entering Sunday’s fourth trial match. Holland was especially brutal to legspinner Usman Ashraf, striking him for three fours and two sixes in the space of five balls in the 14^th over. He was eventually dismissed by Nisarg in the following over. 
 
Nisarg once again shined with the ball in the field for Team Blue. A day after producing figures of 4-1-11-1, Nisarg tied down Team Red with a spell of 2 for 15 in four overs and claimed the prized scalp of Taylor in addition to Holland. Ali Khan also took 2 for 18 in three overs, claiming Monank Patel and Hayden Walsh Jr. in his haul, both caught behind. The only other bowler to claim a wicket in the innings was Roy Silva, who ended with 1 for 18 in three overs after bowling Timil.
 
Two more T20 intrasquad matches are scheduled for the final day of the selection camp on Monday in Los Angeles.