ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2013 | Scorecard
Team USA commenced its’ ICC T20Q campaign in the best possible style with a win over the ‘old foe’ Canada in the first game in Abu Dhabi today. The team bowled first and restricted Canada to 6 for 137 off their twenty overs. Adam Sanford and Elmore Hutchinson both took two wickets each and Mohammed Ghous was his reliable self taking one wicket for 10 off two overs.
Timroy Allen hit an unbeaten 50 in USA win over Canada.
Team USA looked sharp in the field and despite the very hot and humid conditions, stuck the task and went into the innings break confident that they could reach the target. Things didn’t start well for Team USA who lost wickets in the middle of the third over and at one stage were 5 down for 61 in the 11th over. It was at this point that Srini Santhanam came to the wicket and started to try to hold the innings together. Joined by vice-captain Timroy Allen, the pair stayed together to reach the target with a ball to spare! Allen finished with 50 not out off 31 balls and Santhanam was also not out scoring 28 off 32 balls to achieve a win full of character for Team USA. The final score was USA 5 for 138 off 19.5 overs.
National Coach Robin Singh was very pleased with the performance of the team; “I was confident we could beat Canada today. When we played them in the Auty Cup in the middle of the year, the US was unable to field our best side and the results against Canada reflected that. Here in Abu Dhabi, we have a far more experienced team and I said to the players from the outset, if we could keep the run rate in check and wickets in hand, we were more than capable of winning here.
It is a good way to start our campaign. Now our energy and focus is on Italy tomorrow afternoon” Singh said today.
Team USA vice-captain Timroy Allen was delighted with the result; “I knew that when I went out to bat that someone had to accept the responsibility for not only keeping our wickets intact, but for ensuring that the run rate didn’t get to a point where we couldn’t keep up. As vice-captain I knew that I had to perform and accepted that responsibility. Today was a team win and I am very proud of the guys. We played some great cricket and there were plenty of players that should be proud of how they played.
We have shown today that Team USA doesn’t rely just on one player to do well. We can all make a contribution and like I said, when the time comes for a player to accept the responsibility, we have plenty of guys that will do that. Today it happened to be me and I am really happy to have won”, Allen said from Sheik Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Tomorrow’s game against Italy will not be streamed by the ICC, but you can catch all of the coverage at www.usaca.org and click on the ‘ball by ball’ coverage thanks to CricHQ.
Story and photo courtesy of www.usaca.org
