It was the same venue and same opposition in the shape of a UAE XI today in Dubai, and USA again batted first and ended up reasonably comfortable winners, but that very much only tells part of the story.
Xavier Marshall has been in good form for much of the tour so far, often looking like threatening to get a really huge one, and today at the Sevens Cricket Ground, that ominous looking form came to fruition in the most spectacular of fashions.
Wickets and runs came promptly to commence the innings and when Aaron Jones was bowled off the final ball of the 10th over, USA were left at 59 for 3.
Jaskaran Malhotra then joined Marshall and the two put on century partnership in just over 20 overs as USA wrested control back in the match. When Malhotra fell for 31 though it became the Xavier Marshall show as ‘X’ proceeded to smash the ball all around the ground. He moved to his first ever hundred for Team USA, coming off 111 balls.
However Marshall wasn’t done there by any stretch and he went on to score runs heavily all around the ground even as wickets continued to fall at the other end. It looked at one point like he may go past the all-time record USA score of 197 but he finally fell in the 47th over on 170 after a glorious display of batting.
Marshall’s innings contained 24 boundaries including 10 x 6’s and 14 x 4’s against what was another spin-heavy bowling attack.
USA’s total of 302 All Out was their highest of the tournament but the Head Coach, Pubudu Dassanayake wasn’t pleased with the collapse of the lower order that saw 5 wickets fall for 32 runs.
The second innings was nothing quite as dramatic as the first but there was a second superb individual innings of the day, this time from Amjad Khan who made 128 but the next highest score in the UAE XI was 24 and it always looked likely the USA would complete a 4th win in 5 days.
The wickets were shared around for Team USA bowlers with the spin trio of Taylor, Walsh Jnr and Kenjige sharing the bulk of the wickets. None of the bowlers could claim Khan’s wicket though and he was finally run out for the 9th wicket to put USA on the brink before they wrapped up the game in the following over to win by 32 runs.
It’s a day off for Team USA tomorrow before a final game against the UAE XI on Sunday and a return to the 50 Overs series against the National UAE team on Monday.
Team USA schedule in UAE:
March 15 – USA v UAE (2pm) – T20I – ICC Academy Oval 1, Dubai – NO RESULT
March 16 – USA v UAE (2pm) – T20I – ICC Academy Oval 1, Dubai – LOST BY 24 RUNS
March 18 – USA v UAE (10am) – 50 Overs – ICC Academy Oval 1, Dubai – WON BY 5 WICKETS
March 19 – USA v Lancashire (10am) – 50 Overs – ICC Academy Oval 1, Dubai – WON BY 6 WICKETS
March 21 – USA v UAE XI (10am) – 50 Overs – Sevens Cricket Ground, Dubai – WON BY 24 RUNS
March 22 – USA v UAE XI (10am) – 50 Overs – Sevens Cricket Ground, Dubai – WON BY 32 RUNS
March 24 – USA v UAE XI (10am) – 50 Overs – Sevens Cricket Ground, Dubai
March 25 – USA v UAE (10am) – 50 Overs – Sevens Cricket Ground, Dubai
March 28 – USA v UAE (10am) – 50 Overs – Sevens Cricket Ground, Dubai