Under-19s Americas Cricket Championship - Day Three Results

Game # 5 USA vs Bermuda Day 3 began in windy, cloudy and cool conditions. The USA won the toss and elected to field.

Bermuda quickly regained their batting form after being bowled out for under 100 runs by the Cayman Islands the previous day. Opener Oronde Bascome (56) and Delyone Borden (75*) shared a third wicket stand of 93 as Bermuda recorded the second highest innings of the tournament 256/6 in 50 overs. The best bowler for the USA team was Nadir Malik who took 3/49.

The USA started well with an opening partnership of 77 between Birju Gajjar (39) and Ravi Timbawala ( 32) but the pair consumed 25 overs in order to accomplish the solid start and the run rate faced by the remaining batsmen was now in excess of seven runs per over.It proved to be too much of a task and wickets fell steadily as the middle and lower order tried to reduce the run rate required. Finally after a game struggle they were all out in the 49th over for 152 runs. Shane Hollis ( Bermuda) had an outstanding day with the ball taking 6/27 in his ten overs.

Game # 6 Cayman Island vs Canada

With the Cayman Islands defeat over Bermuda and Canada coming off a rest day the two undefeated teams squared off in game six. A Cayman Islands victory would certainly have put a strong grip on the Championship, as their only remaining game would be against Argentina, a team very unlikely to upset them. Canada won the toss and elected to field.

Canada's opening bowler, Simon Upton, struck early as he clean bowled the opener Ricardo Roach with the score at only 7. Gregory Ebanks was joined at the wicket by Joyal Linton and the two proceeded to slowly build a solid innings. When the partnership was broken the pair had added 92 runs but the game was already in the 29th over.Ebanks ended up with 46 and Linton scored 30. The remaining batsmen continued their innings in what has now become a famous Cayman Island trend -bat the full 50 overs regardless of the run rate. It would appear that the 157/9 total was achievable on yet another good batting track.

Canada started their reply with a mixture of cricket strokes and rash hits as if they were concerned about adding to their already high run rate average. The openers were lucky to escape and soon the pair, Ryan Lall (27) and Trevin Bastiampillai (23) had put on 50 for the first wicket in eight overs. Canada seemed in command but then the middle order collapsed against some disciplined spin bowling from the Caymans.

Karun Jethi with a lightening fast (31) in 21 minutes brought his team closer to the target but he was caught on the boundary attempting yet another big hit, with the score at 101 for six the game was still up for grabs. All rounder Durand Soraine batting at the number eight spot guided his team to victory with an unbeaten knock of 30 in 55 balls and 70 minutes at the crease. The two wicket victory with over 13 overs to spare now gives the defending champions a chance at retaining their title.

Thursday July 17th is a rest day the tournament resumes on Friday with Canada taking on the USA while Argentina tackles Bermuda.