By Sham Samaroo

June 3, 2010

Sushil Nadkarni hits a rich vein of form heading to the T/20

Muhammad Ghous  - impressive spell

A whirlwind hundred by Sushil Nadkarni powered Team USA to a comprehensive victory over Cayman Islands on the final day of the Americas Cup Division 1 championship in Bermuda. Nadkarni hammered a 54-ball 101 in an unbroken opening partnership of 130 in 13.5 overs.  A naturally aggressive left hander, Nadkarni [below] is enjoying a purple patch having scored consecutive fifties in the previous two games. But Nadkarni seemed to have saved the best for last in a savage onslaught on the hapless Cayman Islands attack hitting 6 sixes and 12 fours His opening partner, Carl Wright, perfectly willing to rotate the strike, batted sensibly and remained undefeated on 29. 

Earlier in the day, Cayman Islands, winning the toss and batting first, suffered an early set back when Bilal Khan sent back Yeron De Alwis for a duck. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals as Team USA looked to up its run rate by restricting Cayman Islands to a low score. Muhammad Ghous was the pick of the bowlers claiming three wickets for 21 in his 10 over spell.  The 20-year old Ghous is one of the youngest players on the team following an impressive performance at the Under 19 World Cup earlier this year in New Zealand (the other is Andy Mohammed). Timroy Allen, Bilal Khan and Moazzam Imtiaz picked up two wickets each, and Steve Massiah, one.

With only a mathematical possibility of retaining the title that they won in 2008 (Canada would have to be beaten heavily by Bermuda), Team USA set out to maximize its NRR. They did, thanks to the openers, reaching the target of 130 in 14 overs.  84 of the 101 runs scored by Nadkarni came in boundaries.  In the end, though, it didn’t matter as Canada easily defeated Bermuda to finish the tournament udefeated and take the title. Team USA was runner-ups with 4 wins and the solitary loss to Canada.

However, Team USA will get the chance to make amends on Saturday, June 5, when it meets Canada in the WCL Americas Division 1 T/20 tournament.  The 6 teams are drawn into two groups, and will play two games in the preliminary round. The top four teams will then move on to the semifinals with the winners going on to the finals.

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