Bahamas close in on Division Two title

Bahamas 300 for 6 (Roye 74, Tappin 98, Taylor 38*; Patel 2 for 42, Tarajiya 2 for 70) beat Panama 195 (Chohan 46, Balbulta 27; Ekanyake 6 for 18, Roye 2 for 45) by 105 runs

Brazil 244 for 9 (Caisley 130, Lefevre 46; Saunders 2 for 22, Johnstone 2 for 33, Ash 2 for 41) lost to Turks & Caicos Islands 246 for 4 (Ash 97, Browne 104*; Hartmann 2 for 69 by 6 wickets

Bahamas took a giant stride towards winning the Americas Division Two title with a convincing 105-run win over Panama in the battle of the unbeaten teams in Nassau, Bahamas on Friday.

It now means Suriname must not only win the last day showdown against Bahamas, but win quickly, as must Panama who can theoretically win the tournament if they beat Turks & Caicos emphatically enough to dramatically lift their net run-rate.

The foundation for a large Bahamian total was laid by a 125-run partnership between Howard Roye and Ryan Tappin in 25 overs before Roye was out for 74 from 90 balls including 11 fours and a six. Tappin maintained the pace for Bahamas reaching 98 before he was bowled by allrounder Irfan Tarajiya. The intensity of the Bahamian hitting increased markedly as the last 14 overs produced 129 runs thanks in part to Gregory Taylor (38 from 21 balls including three fours and two sixes) and Narendra Ekanyake (18 from 19 balls).

Panama began their chase confidently hitting 78 runs from 10 overs before the introduction of slow left armer Ekanyake into the attack. He took six Panamanian wickets for just 18 runs in his 10 runs to snare the Man-of-the-Match award.

Turks & Caicos Islands ensured their place in Division Two with a six-wicket win over Brazil at Windsor Park, Nassau. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Brazilian captain Greigor Causley continued his prolific ways smashing 130 from 113 balls, including 13 fours and two sixes. However, the only real support he received was from opening partner Guilherm Lefevre (46) and the South Americans were bowled out for 244.

Turks & Caicos opener Rohan Ash tried to join the tournament's lengthy list of centurions only to be given out lbw on 97. Middle-order batsman Douglas Brown achieved that feat though, hitting 104 in just 71 balls, including 13 fours and five sixes, earning the Man-of-the-Match award. Ash and Browne put on 185 runs in only 23 overs, scoring at more than eight runs per over to guide the Islanders home.

Brazil's tournament and stay in Division Two is over, while Turks & Caicos Islands face Panama on Saturday and Bahamas takes on Suriname in what could be the game which decides the tournament.