Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

Ravinderpal Singh's blazing half-century helped secure the Best Batsman award for the tournament in Bermuda as USA once again were brushed aside by Canada, this time by 15 runs at White Hill Field. 

By Peter Della Penna in Bermuda (Twitter @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Ravinderpal Singh’s 67 off 33 balls, including eight sixes, ensured Canada finished as outright champions at the 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifier Americas Regional Final in Bermuda as he propelled his side to a total of 173 for 8 that was comfortably out of reach for USA’s struggling batting unit in a 15-run win at White Hill Field on Sunday. USA entered the final over of their chase needing 24 runs to win with three wickets remaining but managed just six runs off the first four legal balls with a runout on the fourth delivery clinching the match for Canada.
 

Ravinderpal’s innings helped earn him the tournament’s award as the Best Batsman at the event. The half-century against USA followed up his first day century against Cayman Islands, taking him to 189 runs in all to put him just one run behind his captain Navneet Dhaliwal but in one less innings. The win over USA for Canada was even more dominant than the scoreline may indicate due to the fact that they rested the recipient of the Best Bowler honor at the tournament – Dillon Heyliger – as well as star spinner Nikhil Dutta and regular opening batsman Rodrigo Thomas.
 
Abraash Khan opened the batting with Rizwan Cheema in place of Thomas and picked off two boundaries from Jessy Singh’s opening over before Cheema followed with two more off Saurabh Netravalkar in the second, then crunched Singh for six and four in the third to take Canada to 29 for 0. The opening stand was ended by Karima Gore, who had Cheema stumped for 19 overbalancing on another attempted heave down the ground.
 
Gore should have had Canada captain Dhaliwal for 1 in the fifth but a skied drive over cover was spilled by Nisarg Patel after he made the good ground to get to the chance. Gore was able to strike again by the end of the over though as Khan skewed a leading edge to extra cover for a simple catch by Steven Taylor on the ring for 22.
 
Nisarg then took his first wicket of the day in the 7^th, dismissing Nitish Kumar for a duck after missing a sweep to make it 45 for 3. USA continued to keep the pressure on with Gore and Nisarg as Canada struggled to 59 for 3 after 9. But the pressure was released in the 10^th when Aaron Jones came on for his only over of the day, getting hit for a pair of sixes over deep midwicket as part of a 16-run over, sparking a tremendous surge from Canada in which they added 114 over the last 11 overs.
 
Ravinderpal teamed with his captain to add 82 for the fourth wicket as he continued to assault USA’s bowlers through the middle overs. Timil followed Jones in the 11^th by being driven down the ground for two sixes by Ravinderpal before another two were taken over the leg side off Timil by Ravinderpal in the 13^th, bringing up his 50 off 24 balls in the process.
 
Hayden Walsh Jr. finally ended the stand in the 15^th when Ravinderpal couldn’t keep down a back foot punch that found Netravalkar in the ring at extra cover. Gore came back in the 16^th to bowl his final over and struck for his third, claiming Hamza Tariq for 1 pulling to Nisarg at deep midwicket and at the end of the over Canada were 135 for 5.
 
But USA’s death bowling faltered as Canada struck 38 off the last four overs. Nisarg was hit for six twice by Dhaliwal in the 17^th while Singh conceded another to Harsh Thaker before coming back to claim Dhaliwal for 26 skying a catch to Taylor at extra cover in the ring.
 
Netravalkar bowled an excelled four-run over in the 19^th that included the wicket of Thaker skying a catch to Nisarg at cover, but Singh gave momentum back at the finish to Canada with a 12-run over as Saad Bin Zafar struck the last of Canada’s 13 sixes in the innings over midwicket before falling to Singh. Gore’s 3 for 21 were USA’s best figures on the day while Singh returned an expensive 2 for 42.
 
USA showed far more aggression in their Powerplay than they had at any point in the tournament as Jaskaran Malhotra – back in the lineup in place of Xavier Marshall – came out to open with Monank Patel. Monank got off to a fiery start with three sixes in the first three overs off Romesh Eranga and Junaid Siddiqui to take USA to 32 for 0. Monank fell in the fourth for 26 skying a catch to Ravinderpal at long-off for Saad Bin Zafar’s first wicket of the day.
 
Steven Taylor lasted just five balls, hitting a four and six before he was bowled by Kumar in the fifth. Malhotra then struck four and six off Saad to start the sixth over to take USA to 60 for 2 but fell one ball later top-edging a sweep to Eranga at short fine leg. Over the final 14.3 overs, USA added just 98 runs as the middle order struggled to sustain the firepower showcased at the top.
 
Aaron Jones gloved a bouncer down the leg side off Mark Montfort for 8 in the 10^th over. Sunny Sohal made a run a ball 18 before slogging to Ravinderpal at long-on off Kumar in the 11^th. Nisarg then fell for a second-ball duck to Dhaliwal’s offspin in the 12^th to complete a slide of 3 for 7 as USA slipped to 91 for 6.
 
Walsh Jr. did his best to stretch the chase out along with Singh. The pair added 49 before Walsh Jr. fell for 28 driving a catch to Kumar at long-on for Saad’s third wicket. It left the tail needing 34 off the final two overs, which was a bridge too far. Singh was runout trying to steal a bye in the final over for 31 off 24 balls, top-scoring on the day for USA from No. 8. Saad ended with Canada’s best figures on the day, taking 3 for 34 while Kumar contributed with 2 for 23.
 
Bermuda easily sailed past Cayman Islands by six wickets in the afternoon. Allan Douglas followed up a five-wicket haul in the first innings to score an unbeaten 47 off 28 balls in the chase of Cayman’s 114 to end the match with 21 balls to spare.