Gunasekara and Fray hit centuries

Openers Ruvindu Gunasekera and Terryn Fray stroked centuries of contrasting styles and off-spinner Pratik Patel captured a remarkable 7-3 as Canada and Bermuda maintained their winning streak in the five-team round-robin Americas U/19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Toronto on Wednesday.

Gunasekera stroked a 107-ball 155, punctuated with 25 boundaries, and Patel recorded figures of 5-2-3-7 to play pivotal roles in Canada's 343 runs victory over the Bahamas while Fray scored a watchful 144-ball 119, which included six boundaries to inspire Bermuda to 230-run win over Argentina.

It was Bermuda's third successive victory while for Canada it was its second from as many games. As things are shaping up in this event, it appears that the winner of Bermuda and Canada match on Saturday will decide who joins the ICC's 10 Full Members, hosts Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea and Ireland (which recently qualified from the East-Asia Pacific and European Regions respectively) at the 16-team ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup to be played from 17 February to 2 March 2008 in Malaysia.

In the Canada-Bahamas match, Gunasekara was in a punishing mood as he completely dominated an inexperienced Bahamas bowling attack by making the ball disappear to different parts of the park at regular intervals. His stroke selection was immaculate as he successfully pierced through the inner and outer ring of fielders to score most of his runs in boundaries.

Gunasekara was involved in a 182-run fourth-wicket partnership with Pratik Patel to lay the platform for a big score of 423 in 49.4 overs after Canada, put into bat, was reduced to 92-3. Patel scored 75 from 68 balls with three fours and a six.

Kevin James, later in the innings, provided further impetus to Canada's run riot as he slapped nine boundaries in his 30-ball 57. Hasan Raza Zaidi (33) and Rustum Bhatti (28) also scored at more than a run a ball to make sure the Bahamas was batted out of the match.

The Bahamas, in its chase, made a positive start when it reached 70 without loss but the introduction of off-spinner Pratik Patel saw it crashing out for 80. Patel returned magnificent figures of 5-2-3-7 but couldn't beat Gunasekara to man of the match award.

Eighteen-year-old Patel now has 10 wickets from two matches.

Elsewhere, Terryn Fray batted with concentration and application to propel Bermuda to 326-6 in 50 overs. Fray faced 144 balls for his 119 that included six boundaries.

Fray featured in two fruitful partnerships. For the third wicket, he added 76 runs with Malachi Jones who contributed a 24-ball 44 with six fours and two sixes. For the fourth wicket, Fray put on 69 runs with Marico Bassett (26).

In turn, Argentina was bowled out for 96 with only Pedro Bruno (29) and Horacio Esperon (13) reaching double figures.

For Bermuda, pace duo of Stefan Kelly (4-26) and Greg Maybury (4-19) shared the bowling honours.

After Thursday's rest day, Canada meets the Cayman Islands and Argentina faces the Bahamas on Friday

The ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup is a vital part of the ICC Development Program and provides a vehicle for the best young cricketers in the world to parade their skills.

Many of the future stars of the game experience their first true international exposure at this tournament and players such as Brian Lara, Michael Atherton, Yuvraj Singh, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Cairns, Michael Clarke, Graeme Smith and Sanath Jayasuriya have used the event as a stepping stone to full international honours.

First staged in Australia in 1988, the tournament was initially organised on an occasional basis, but since the commencement of the ICC Development Program in 1997 it has become a biennial fixture.

The 2010 ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup will be held in Kenya while the 2012 tournament will be staged in Canada and UAE will host the 2014 edition.