USA And Italy Promoted To Div. 3

United States of America (USA) and Italy will participate in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3 (WCL Div. 3) tournament in Hong Kong next year after the Americans defeated Argentina and Italy beat Tanzania to secure promotion in Bologna, Italy on Friday.

Aditya Thyagarajan saved the best for last when he hit an unbeaten 102 as USA was struggling against Argentina. Photo courtesy of ICC.

Nepal defeated the Cayman Islands by seven wickets thus relegating the Caribbean team out of the league and maintaining its own position in WCL Div. 4.

The WCL provides a clearly defined pathway towards the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 as all Associate and Affiliate teams receive the opportunity to progress and develop as they take part in qualifying events against similarly ranked teams around the globe.

The USA’s final match of the group stages did not begin according to plan for Steve Massiah who had elected to bat having won the toss. Argentina’s Gary Savage and Agustin Casime struck early reducing the side to three for three in just 1.2 overs.

Savage claimed the key wickets of Sushil Nadkarni and Orlando Baker dismissing both Americans for ducks while Casime had the captain walking after making just one run. Carl Wright and Stephen Taylor both went without making a run and the challenge of adding to the total fell to Lennox Cush, Aditya Thyagarajan and Rashard Marshall.

The arrival of Cush steadied the ship for the USA with the Guyanese-born all-rounder making 58 off 54 balls but he departed in the muggy conditions of Pianoro after being caught at point by Matias Paterlini.

Rashad Marshall blast 122 off 84 deliveries and shared a 7th wicket partnership of 205 with Aditya Thyagarajan. Photo by Shiek Mohamed

The decisive moment of the innings came with the partnership of Thyagarajan and Marshall who both claimed centuries for the team. The pair managed a huge seventh-wicket partnership of 205 when the innings came to a close, Marshall smashing his way to a stunning 122 in 84 balls.

The South Americans had a mildly better start to its innings against its North American rivals but Usman Shuja bought the side down to earth, dismissing Pablo Ferguson and Carlos Gibson in successive balls.

The innings did not get much better for Esteban MacDermott’s team when the batting line-up collapsed to 30 for six after just 8.5 overs. Eventually the side was all out for 110 with Tomas Francis hitting 32 runs before being caught by Baker when he attempted to loft the ball over mid on.

Kevin Darlington, Adrian Gordon and Shuja shared the major spoils of the bowling to complete a miserable week of losses for the Argentines.

USA’s man of the match Thyagarajan said, “It was obviously somewhat of a shock when we were five down going into the fifth over, I think perhaps we misjudged the Argentina side and credit to their bowlers for the job they did on our top order.

“I knew that once I’d settled in with Lennox and then later with Rashard that we were well on our way to making a good total but it was by no means an easy game; the Argentines had effectively nothing to lose and came at us with everything they could when it came to their bowling.

“Ultimately the victory is sweet and it’s great to know we’ve qualified for Division 3 in Hong Kong. We’re by no means the complete package though and we’ll go back to the US after the finals to make sure we’re fully prepared for Hong Kong at the end of January”.

At Bologna, having won the toss Alessandro Bonora elected to bat against Tanzania and it was a decision that paid off for the team when his side made another huge first innings total.

The team amassed 259 runs helped by the strong batting once again of Peter Petricola who was run out 11 runs short of a century off the quick thinking of Riziki Kiseto.

Damian Crowley made a neat 38 runs off 52 balls but the 21-year-old top edged the ball into the hands of Tanzania wicketkeeper Issa Kikasi and the young man walked.

It was a tough morning for the Tanzania bowlers with the team’s fielding skills being tested by the big hitters of the Italian side along with the fact the ground experienced some light drizzle making conditions somewhat slippery.

Hayden Patrizi and Michael Raso wrapped the innings up before the break with Patrizi smashing 49 runs off 33 balls to add to the side’s huge total.

Dilan Fernando made sure the Tanzanians hopes of breaking into WCL Div. 3 were dashed when he dismissed four out of the top order including the key scalps of Tanzania captain Hamisi Abdallah and Enjo Kiongozi.

Italy’s Petricola claimed four wickets to complete his all-round performance and leave the Tanzanians all out for 92 and thus earning himself another man of the match award.

The 27-year-old said, “It feels great to have contributed towards the side’s promotion into Division 3 but it’s by no means been an easy run nor is it over since we have a final tomorrow against the USA.

“To win another man of the match award is a great feeling but isn’t a pinch on the feeling of team success. I can’t wait for next year in Hong Kong and the challenges that lie ahead”.

Paras Khadka’s Nepal crushed the Cayman Islands to confirm the latter’s departure from WCL Div. 4 and reaffirming the Nepalese side’s position in the league.

The Cayman Islands had a disastrous day with the bat and simply could not read the bowling of Basant Regmi nor Amrit Bhattarai.

Only two members of the team managed to make it into double figures, Ryan Bovell (31 not out) and opener Ramon Sealy, the latter departed for 11 after attempting to pull and instead top edging the ball to square leg, where Anil Mandal made a diving catch to the see the wicketkeeper off the field.

Things didn’t get any better for the Cayman Islanders with six of its batsmen being caught by the sharp fielding and tight bowling of Nepal and the whole side was skittled for just 69 runs.

When the time came for Nepal to take the field, the side started fast – striking 11 runs off the first over – but let things slip losing two quick wickets when the total was sat at 27.

It was then up to Paras Khadka to add 13 runs before Conroy Wright decided to rearrange the 22-year-old captain’s stumps. Shakti Gauchan and Gyanendra Malla finished up proceedings for the Nepal side after lunch with 196 balls to spare.

Cayman Islands coach Theo Cuffy said, “Although we’ve been relegated I definitely think that there are some positives the side can take from this tournament. I am pleased with the effort of the younger players and I feel that the side has given their all to compete here.

“I think as a team we’ve learnt a lot from this tournament, specifically that as a side we need more professionalism to our cricket. We still treat the sport in an amateur light and it’s something that I think we very much need to rethink upon our return to Cayman”.

Man of the Match Basant Regmi commented, “I played my normal game today to claim my four wickets and it’s always nice to have your achievements recognised but ultimately I and the team are disappointed that we have not won promotion to Division 3.

“We still have the belief as a side that we could have been promoted but we just did not perform to the standard of cricket we know we are capable of playing. It’s now a case of returning to Nepal to look at what went wrong and to correct it for the future”.

Tomorrow’s fixtures are as follows:

First/Second play-off at Pianoro: Italy v USA

Third/Fourth play-off at Medicina: Nepal v Tanzania

Fifth/Sixth play-off at Bologna: Cayman Islands v Argentina

Score summaries (fifth day):
At Pianoro: USA 306-6, 50 overs (Cush 58, Thyagarajan 102 not out, Marshall 122 not out; Savage 3-61)
Argentina 110 all out, 27.2 overs (Francis 32, L Paterlini 27; Darlington 3-21, Shuja 3-33, Gordon 3-25)
USA won by 196 runs

At Medicina: Cayman Islands 69 all out, 39.5 overs (Bovell 31 not out; B Regmi 4-13, Bhattarai 3-8)
Nepal 70-3, 17.2 overs, (Chhetri 19, Khadka 13, Gauchan 13 not out; Wright 2-32)
Nepal won by seven wickets

At Bologna: Italy 259-7, 50 overs (Petricola 89, Crowley 38, Patrizi 49 not out; Rehmtullah 2-30)
Tanzania 92 all out, 27 overs (Nassoro 34; Fernando 4-32, Petricola 4-25)
Italy won by 167 runs

SCORECARD

Fall of wickets: 1 – 0 (Nadkarni, 0.2), 2 – 1 (Baker, 0.6), 3 – 3 (Massiah, 1.2), 4 – 3 (Wright, 1.5), 5 – 17 (Taylor, 4.3), 6 – 101 (Cush, 21.1)

Fall of wickets: 1 – 7 (P Ferguson, 3.3), 2 – 7 (Gibson, 3.4), 3 – 7 (MJ Paterlini, 4.1), 4 – 14 (Savage, 4.5), 5 – 26 (Forrester, 7.6), 6 – 30 (A Ferguson, 8.5), 7 – 79 (LM Paterlini, 14.5), 8 – 101 (MacDermott, 20.2), 9 – 102 (Francis, 22.2), 10 – 110 (Casime, 27.2)

Points Table