Wins for Canada and Bermuda on Day Four of Under-19s Championship
The USA won the toss and elected to bat under brilliant blue skies as the U19 Americas Championship continued after a rest day on Thursday
ICC Development (Americas)
19-Jul-2003
Game #7 USA v Canada
The USA won the toss and elected to bat under brilliant blue skies as the U19 Americas Championship continued after a rest day on Thursday. Canada struck quickly with opening bowler Simon Upton removing the opening batsmen before the score had reached 20. Skipper Jason Hemstra(27) and Akeem Dodson (41) then put together a respectable partnership of 48 before off spinner Shaheed Keshvani had the skipper trapped lbw for 27. After his Captain's departure Dodson continued his innings but saw a number of partners leaving to a variety of spin bowling from the Canadians. Keenan Fish , Hammad Rafiique and Danish Aseem posted low double figure scores as the Americans crawled to a modest total of 161 all out in 49.3 overs.
The Canadians started their reply in their familiar style of aggression spiked with the occasional classic cricket stroke. Last year's U15 Captain Ryan Lall supplied the aggression while his partner Gavin Bastiampillai played a number of cover drives for boundaries as good as you would see at any level of cricket. The 50 partnership took only 21 balls before Lall was bowled by Komal Singh. But the day belonged to Gavin Bastiampillai who played a magnificent innings of 87 not out as the Canadians coasted to a five wicket victory with seven overs to spare. The win could have been costly as Simon Upton their steady opening bowler broke a figure while fielding and would most likely miss the final game against Bermuda on Saturday.
Game # 8 Argentina v Bermuda
The final outcome of this game was never in doubt but some of the events were. Bermuda knowing they had to improve their net run rate having lost one game so far took it out on the young winless side from Argentina. Bermuda was given the opportunity by Argentina, who had won the toss, to bat first. Taking full advantage of this decision two records were broken , one for the highest team score 364/5 in 50 overs ,and one for the highest individual score as opener Dion Stovell scored the first ever double century (204).. Stovell shared in an opening partnership of 87 with Oronde Bascome (35) and the a 160 run 3rd wicket stand with Delyone Borden who contributed only 29 runs to the total partnership. Argentina was quickly dismissed for 62 in the 22nd over resulting in a victory of 302 runs.
The stage is now set for the final game between Bermuda and Canada . Should Bermuda win and Cayman Islands as expected defeat Argentina there will be a three way tie for first place which will the be decided by the best net run rate . Canada currently leads Bermuda and Cayman Island in this category and can still advance to the World Cup if they lose by a close margin. If Canada wins they will be a clear champion and earn a spot in the 2004 Youth World Cup to be played in Bangladesh in February 2004.