The high fives came regularly for Sainavi Kambalapalli as she wiped out Argentina's lineup with three wickets in her first over of the day before going on to complete a five-wicket haul in a USA rout. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna/ICC

By Peter Della Penna in Grand Cayman (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
For the second day in a row, a USA Women’s U19 legspinner took a five-wicket haul at the ICC Americas U19 Women’s T20 World Cup Regional Qualifier in the Cayman Islands. On Sunday it was Mahek Desai and on Monday it was 17-year-old Sainavi Kambalapalli who walked away with Player of the Match honors in USA’s 112-run win over Argentina after she followed a first innings knock of 35 off 24 balls to claim 5 for 10 in just three overs as USA bowled out Argentina for 68 in reply to a total of 180 for 5. 
 

Argentina won the toss and elected to field first as Kambalapalli and captain USA Chetna Pagydyala added 63 runs inside of six overs to give USA a commanding start to the afternoon. After a sedate start in which USA scored just six runs off the first 11 balls, Pagydyala capitalized on a misfield on the boundary for USA’s first four of the match to end the second over. Kambalapalli then teed off in the fourth over, hitting USA’s first six of the tournament with a magnificent straight drive over long-on against the medium pace of Julia Andujar before stroking her through mid-off next ball for another four to cap an 18-run over. Pagydyala then took advantage of an overstep by Ana Castelli in the fifth to scoop a length ball over fine leg for four during a 14-run over that brought up the half-century stand. The partnership ended in the sixth when Kambalapalli miscued a half-tracker back to Vicki Lehmann. 
 
Pagydyala was joined by Anannya Aneesh and the pair took advantage of a pair of waist height no balls, each batter hitting it for a boundary, as part of a 20-run over in the seventh. Two more boundaries off Jacinta Valencia’s offspin in the ninth over brought up the team 100 for USA as a 200-plus total looked possible. But the scoring slowed after both set batters fell to Rocio Roquel’s offspin in the 13^th. Aneesh fell first for 23, slapping a full toss to Castelli at deep midwicket who took a solid catch reaching high above her head just a yard inside the rope. Pagydyala went two balls later for 42, punching a loopy full delivery back to the bowler at waist height, who juggled the chance before trapping it against her thigh to hold on as USA ended the over at 130 for 3. 
 
Roquel helped slow down USA’s scoring rate considerably and at one stage they went six overs without a boundary before Desai broke the streak with a six hooked off a full toss over fine leg off Andujar in the 16^th. Roquel wound up claiming Desai in the 19^th however for 18 as a heave across the line resulted in a skied chance that was held by the bowler a few feet away from the standing umpire to make it 159 for 4. 
 
Hashini Karthikeyan entered and produced a one-handed tennis racquet slap over midwicket for a boundary off Roquel on her first ball, but was runout for 5 in the final over on a tap and run mixup off the bat of Pooja Ganesh as Castelli fielded off her own bowling and underhanded into the stumps with Ganesh staying put at the striker’s end. Ganesh then ended the innings scooping a boundary past fine leg off Castelli to finish 25 not out off 23 balls. 
 
Roquel ended with remarkable figures of 3 for 17 in her four overs after being the seventh bowler brought into the attack on the day. Lehmann was Argentina’s only other wicket-taker, claiming 1 for 14 in a solitary over. 
 
Argentina’s opening pair proved to be stubborn for USA’s bowling unit to dislodge as they advanced to 43 for 0 off the first nine overs. USA also put down four chances along the way, including in the opening over when Daria Mastrangelo was dropped at slip on her first ball off the bowling of Maahi Madhavan before being put down two more times on 7 and 18. 
 
It took Kambalapalli’s entrance into the attack in the 10^th over for the stand to be broken as the legspinning allrounder took three wickets in the frame. From 44 for 0, Kambalapalli triggered a collapse that resulted in Argentina losing all 10 wickets for 24 runs. First to go was Mastrangelo, who charged down the pitch and fanned on a heave across the line to be stumped for 21. Julia Santos chopped a googly onto her stumps next ball before captain Milagros Bestani saw off the hat-trick ball but was bowled by a googly one ball later to make it three in four for Kambalapalli. 
 
In her second over in the 12^th, Kambalapalli nabbed Andujar driving a catch to Saanvi Immadi at mid-off for 4. Desai came on at the Pavilion End to bowl legspin in tandem with Kambalapalli and struck in the 13^th as Roquel swiped across the line and was bowled for a five-ball duck. Kambalapalli then completed her five-for in the 14^th when Milagros Hagen skied a pull for a top edge that was eventually held by Ganesh coming out from behind the stumps to take the catch halfway down the wicket. 
 
Desai nearly joined Kambalapalli with twin five-wicket hauls in the same match when she produced a triple-wicket maiden in the 15^th. Opener Lehmann finally fell for 18 when she heaved across the line and was bowled on the first ball of the over. Sofia Batteria then skied a return catch off the next ball to put Desai on a hat-trick. Jacinta Valencia negotiated her first ball safely before overstretching on a prod and was stumped by Ganesh to make it three in four balls to start the over. No. 11 batter Mora Finocchio managed to survive the final two balls of the over to deny Desai a five-wicket haul for the second match in a row. 
 
From 44 for 0 to 55 for 9, Argentina managed to stretch the match out until the 19^th as the last-wicket pair of Finocchio and Castelli added 13 runs before Finocchio was bowled by a fuller delivery from Immadi to end the match. Castelli finished unbeaten on 10. 
 
Aside from Kambalapalli’s figures, Desai finished with 4 for 6 off four overs. Immadi returned 1 for 8 off 2.1. 
 
In the day’s other match, Canada outlasted the ICC Next Gen squad to win by 13 runs. Harper Chalmers was named Player of the Match after making 25 off 39 balls with three fours to top-score in Canada’s first innings total of 93 for 5 that was aided by 16 wides. Chalmers then contributed a valuable spell of 1 for 7 off four overs in the chase as the ICC Next Gen squad looked on course for an upset at 63 for 3 in the 16^th over before Vritti Dahiya sparked a slide with two wickets in the over to remove the set pair of Disha Kaveripakam for 14 and Sahasra Gorla for 16. Opener Palak Chauhan top-scored with 23 off 25 balls earlier in the innings. 
 
All teams have a rest day on Tuesday before play resumes on Wednesday. USA face the ICC Next Gen squad at 10 am followed by Canada going up against Argentina at 2:30 pm.