By Ravi Madholall
Canada continued their dominance over USA after emerging victorious by 17 runs in the second and penultimate limited-over Auty Cup on Friday at Woodley Park facility in Los Angeles.
Fahad Babar (left) and Akeem Dodson shared a partnership of 127 for the fourth wicket.
After winning their opening match by 34 runs the previous day at the same venue, the Canadians once again took first strike and rallied along to a challenging 216 all out off 48.5 overs.
When the hosts replied, they were dismissed for 199 off 48 overs despite two compact half-centuries from Akeem Dodson (73) and the consistent Fahad Babar (62).
Elmore Hutchison was the only other batsman to reach double-figures with 37 as right-arm pacer Satsimranjit claimed four wickets for 37 runs from 8 overs while Cecil Pervez grabbed three for 42 from 8 overs also to significantly help bowl out the oppositions.
Earlier, Canada saw some useful scores from their talented batsmen on a responsive pitch. Nikhil Dutta led the way with a top-score of 43 while the in-form and debutant skipper Nitish Kumar made 32.
Dillon Heylier, one of the versatile all-rounders, weighed in with a cameo 31 and 26 from Varun Sehdev.
Medium-pacer Jaspeep Singh bagged four wickets for 51 runs from 8.5 overs. He got support from the experienced left-arm bowler Elmore Hutchinson and Timil Patel, who both picked up two wickets for 20 (6) and 32 (8) respectively.
The win also saw Canada retaining the prestigious Auty Cup. The two neighboring North American countries will be in action on Sunday at the same venue for the final but inconsequential showdown.
However, USA who will be featuring in the imminent international Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League (WCL) Division 4 50-over tournament in Los Angeles too from October 29, should continue to maximize their preparations with the other scheduled encounter.
Canada have also started preparations for the ICC WCL Division 3 which is slated for 2017 at a venue to be announced and no doubt are using this as part of their preparations as well for their next major assignment.
Jasdeep Singh was the most successful USA bowler, picking up 4 for 51. Photo by Shiek Mohamed