USA beat Bermuda despite Leverock's heroics

USA 297 for 9 dec and 183 (Leverock 7-57) beat Bermuda 201 for 8 dec and 165 (Smith 65, HR Johnson 5-38) by 114 runs
Scorecard

Dwayne Leverock: the man can dance, and boy, can he bowl! © ICC

With USA in a comfortable position at the start of the final day, leading by 237 runs with six wickets in hand, one would have thought that the visitors would add a quick 60 or 70 runs to their total and get the home team to face a few overs before lunch . If that was the plan it went astray. Just after play, heavy rain delayed play for 71 minutes, and that was followed by the unexpected. . In just less than 15 overs USA were bowled out for 183, adding just 40 runs to their overnight total. The one-man wrecking crew responsible for this was the left-arm spinner, Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock. His haul of 7 for 57 in just 16.2 overs was a welcome birthday gift for the big allrounder, who celebrated his 32nd birthday a day earlier.

Bermuda was given a target of 280 for victory, and with extra time added for the rain delay, it was estimated there were 88 overs remaining to play. But if Bermuda had any plans of chasing this total, USA's opening bowlers, Charles Reid and Howard Johnson, put an instant stop to that, both capturing wickets in their first over.

It was left to Clay Smith, Bermuda's captain, and Leverock to construct a rear-guard action.But Johnson continued his fine bowling, when he was brought back into the attack, capturing the wicket of the defiant Leverock, who occupied the crease for 78 balls and contributed 23 to the total.

Smith continued to battle for the draw and Denis Archer offered some support but when Nasir Javed got Smith to play on it was all but over for Bermuda. His innings of 65 in 161 balls included seven fours. Johnson was Team USA's best bowler, with figures of 17-3-38-5.

The win now gives USA a chance of advancing to the semi-finals in Dubai. To do this they must hope either for a Bermudian victory in Toronto next month against Canada, or for no result game due to rain. They picked up 32 points while Bermuda earned 16.5 bonus points.

The Man-of-the-Match award, which easily could have gone to Smith if Bermuda had drawn the match, went to Steve Massiah for his brilliant century in USA's first innings. The final match between Canada and Bermuda will be played in Toronto, August 13 to 15, 2004.