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USA Cricketer
May 2010 - Posts
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Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket
By Peter Della Penna
 For
the second day in a row USA lost early wickets, but this time they
could not recover and eventually lost by 9 wickets to their archrival
Canada on day two of the ICC Americas Division One Tournament at the
National Sports Club in Hamilton, Bermuda. Stand-in captain Rizwan
Cheema was named Man of the Match for Canada after he blasted an
unbeaten century to lead Canada’s chase of 190.
Pic (Right): Rizwan Cheema [Courtesy: Cricket Canada]
USA was sent in to bat by the opposition once again on Saturday. Sushil
Nadkarni moved down the order, allowing Carl Wright to open with
Orlando Baker. However, the maneuver failed to pay any dividends for
any of the parties involved. A day after scoring a century, Baker was
the first man dismissed, out for 8 to Calvert Hooper. Wright followed
soon after for 13, also to Hooper, to make it 42 for 2 in 13 overs.
Captain Steve Massiah was claimed by Khurram Chohan for 17 before
Hooper finished his opening spell by getting Lennox Cush for a
second-ball duck to peg USA back at 51 for 4 in the 15th over.
Nadkarni was run out for 8 by Trevin Bastiampillai to put USA into an
even deeper hole at 65 for 5 in the 22nd over before USA staged a mini
recovery. Aditya Thyagarajan put on 38 runs for the sixth wicket with
Rashard Marshall before he fell for 33 to the off-spin of Hiral Patel,
a member of Canada’s 2010 ICC U-19 World Cup squad. Two overs later,
Patel teamed up with his former captain from the U-19 World Cup, Rustam
Bhatti, to have Ashhar Mehdi caught behind for 1 and USA was in tatters
at 113 for 7.
Marshall and Timroy Allen then combined for USA’s biggest partnership
of the match, putting on 68 runs for the 8th wicket before Allen
departed to paceman Umar Bhatti for 37 in the 46th over. Marshall fell
six balls later to Sunil Dhaniram for 48, finishing with USA’s top
score in the innings. Bilal Khan was the last man dismissed for 2 by
Umar Bhatti, leaving Adrian Gordon unbeaten on 6 as USA was all out for
189 in 49.1 overs.
Cheema came out and wasted no time taking it to the USA bowlers,
teaming up with Bastiampillai to get Canada off to a flyer and they
never looked back. Orlando Baker, who was one of only two players who
did not bowl in USA’s win over Argentina on Friday, made the first and
only breakthrough of the day in the 22nd over, having Bastiampillai
caught by Allen for 27 to make it 98 for 1. Cheema continued his
rampage with Patel, finishing 114 not out in only 96 balls with 10
fours and five sixes. Gordon received some harsh punishment, going for
21 runs in his first two overs opening the innings only to come back at
the end of the match to be hit for another 21 in a second two-over
spell. Patel finished 36 not out with four boundaries as Canada reached
the target with 11 overs to spare.
USA now has a day off to regroup before taking on Bahamas on Monday at
10:30 a.m. local time in Bermuda. In Saturday’s other matches, Bermuda
joined Canada at 2-0 after beating Argentina by 166 runs. Cayman
Islands are level with USA at 1-1 in a tie for third place after their
victory by 111 runs over Bahamas.
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By Peter Della Penna
 A towering 213-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Man of the
Match Aditya Thyagarajan and Orlando Baker put USA on the path to
victory as they beat Argentina by 120 runs on Friday at St. Georges
Cricket Club in Bermuda on day one of the ICC Americas Division One
Tournament.
Pic (Right): File photo of Aditya Thyagarajan taken during the ICC Division 5 match versus Jersey. [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia]
Coming in at number six with the score at 91 for 4,
Thyagarajan finished with 159, his highest score for USA, which
included 21 boundaries and three sixes. Baker notched a century of his
own, scoring 113 opening the innings after USA was sent in to bat.
“I went into bat when we were in a spot of bother,” said Thyagarajan
afterwards. “Baker and I began to do the repair work. The key for me
was that I kept playing my natural game and continued to play my
strength shots. Batting with Baker is always great and we have had many
partnerships for USA. I feel in great touch and hope to continue to
work hard and win games for USA.”
Sushil Nadkarni and Baker opened the match for USA and put on 49 runs
before Nadkarni was the first man dismissed for 23. Captain Steve
Massiah was caught behind for a fifth ball duck four runs later off the
bowling of Lucas Paterlini. Carl Wright could only manage 9 runs before
he was sent back by the Argentine captain Esteban MacDermott. Lennox
Cush became the second batsman out for a duck when he fell on his fifth
ball to Diego Lord in the 20th over to make it 91 for 4.
It was here that Thyagarajan entered the fray and true to his
reputation in a USA uniform, staged a classic fightback with Baker to
bring up his first century as a member of the national team. Both men
looked in solid form during their 50-over encounter one week earlier
against Jamaica and carried it over into the first match of this
tournament. Baker had already reached 50 when Thyagarajan came to the
crease, but it was Thyagarajan who brought up his century first,
scoring the lion’s share of the runs in their partnership. Thyagarajan
accounted for 75% of the runs in their fifth wicket stand, while he
also took most of the strike as he faced 119 balls during the 28 overs
he was at the crease. He was finally dismissed in the 48th over by Gary
Savage while Baker fell in the final over of the innings to Paterlini.
Rashard Marshall played another one of his microwave innings, heating
up quickly to blast 29 runs in only 8 balls with two fours and three
sixes to take USA to 347 for 6 in their 50 overs. Savage finished with
2 for 90 in his 10 overs while Paterlini had 2 for 47 in 9.
Adrian Gordon opened up the pace attack for USA and claimed both
openers, Matias and Lucas Paterlini, to set Argentina back at 23 for 2.
After Timroy Allen had Pablo Ferguson caught behind to make it 58 for
3, Grant Dugmore and Savage tried to replicate USA’s innings by staging
a fightback of their own. The two put on 75 runs before Dugmore was out
LBW to the off-spin of Massiah for 64. Savage then put on another
half-century stand with Donald Forrester before Savage was runout for
35 by Allen to make it 187 for 5 in the 42nd. Bilal Khan then came on
late after opening the bowling with Gordon to pick up three quick
wickets. Khan claimed the scalps of Alejandro Ferguson and Bernardo
Irigoyen while Carl Wright bowled Martin Siri. Khan then got Forrester
for 38, but USA couldn’t claim all 10 wickets and Argentina finished on
227 for 9 in 50 overs.
USA will take on Canada on Saturday at 10:30 am local time in Bermuda.
Canada defeated Cayman Islands by 8 wickets on Friday while Bermuda
disposed of Bahamas by 7 wickets in the day’s other match.
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By Peter Della Penna
 Atlantic
Region batsman Clain Williams has been selected to replace the injured
Andy Mohammed for the ICC Americas Division One Tournament which begins
on Friday in Bermuda. The team will fly out late on Thursday with their
first match scheduled to begin the next morning at 11 a.m. Bermuda time
vs. Argentina.
“It’s just another opportunity,” said Williams on Thursday. “It’s not
good the way it happened at the cost of someone else, but here I am.”
Mohammed split the webbing between his middle and ring fingers on his
right hand on Sunday in USA’s Twenty20 match against Jamaica while
diving forward trying to make a spectacular catch coming in from the
boundary. He required five stitches and had his hand bandaged up by
doctors. According to Mohammed, he was instructed by doctors not to
remove the bandages for 10 days. The left-handed Mohammed said he felt
he would be fine to bat, but that fielding would be difficult and so he
reluctantly informed the selectors that he would not be fit for this
tournament.
Williams is hoping for some more playing time after getting only one
start out of six matches at World Cricket League Division Five in
February. He played in a victory in the first match in Nepal against
Fiji, scoring 9 not out coming in at number seven. He was also
routinely used as a substitute fielder. He may see more action towards
the end of this tour when more players are likely to get opportunities
in an attempt to keep the team fresh. USA could potentially have five
matches in four days at the end of the tour, beginning with a 50-over
match against Cayman Islands and ending with a series of Twenty20
matches.
“I hope I get more [opportunities] and then that’s the only way I can
take it from there so we’ll see how it goes,” said Williams.
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Comments
The significance of the Pearls Cup
between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Florida is just sinking in among
thousands of cricket fans across USA. Those who got a taste of T20
action on American soil over the weekend are already clamoring for more
and the NACL T20 may be the answer.
 In
a conversation with DreamCricket.com, Mr. Gladstone Dainty, President
of USA Cricket Association, spoke of the worldwide tender that had been
floated in 2009 to attract investors and to expand USACA’s working
budget. Mr. Dainty said: “A lot of companies showed interest in that.
We have an agreement with a particular company that we are negotiating
with and hopefully we can finalize that very quickly.”
Pic (Right): Gladstone Dainty, President of USA Cricket Association.
Confirming that USACA was in discussions with the North American
Cricket League (NACL), Mr. Dainty said: “They are seeking exclusive
rights to a domestic T20 league in America. There is an agreement to
talk [with NACL] and there is an agreement that we are working on to
finalize. Things are moving very quickly and within the next month or
so, we should be on our way.”
NACL’s spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous because the
agreement was still being worked on, was in Lauderhill and was seen
watching the proceedings with tremendous interest.
Speaking to DreamCricket.com, he had this to say about the Pearls
Cup: “For a long time people have been developing an idea to bring big,
international matches to US and finally the dream has come true. I
would like to congratulate Mr. Dainty and his entire team, USACA board
members, the CEO and everybody who worked diligently to make this
happen. I truly believe it’s history that’s being created.”
Speaking about NACL’s mission, the spokesperson said, “NACL was basically formulated to promote cricket in the USA and Canada. The intention of the Company is to
work in close association with USA Cricket Association and
with the support of the International Cricket
Council to organize, host, promote and develop Twenty20 format
cricket, develop cricket and cricketing infrastructure in the United
States.”
Pic (Right): USA flags and signs such as “USA loves cricket!”, “Bring it to Chicago!” were everywhere! On
the success of the Pearls Cup, the NACL spokesperson was extremely
positive. “I feel T20 is the perfect format and it suits the American
population and we will develop this format in USA. Our team at NACL is
very confident and we have a wide range of expertise to pull this off,
both from the fields of cricket and entertainment. The time has come to
bring T20 into the USA," he said.
The spokesperson said that cricket was going to be the main draw for
NACL and development of the game was the biggest goal. “As we plan to
promote T20 cricket, what really needs to be understood is how we can
take it to the grassroots level, which is very important. It’s good to
say that we will formulate a domestic T20 league with different regions
and come up with “x” teams, but without a good development plan, it is
not sustainable.”
As reported in an earlier article, the league's website claims that “team
composition rules [which] are geared towards a 60% - 40%
domestic/international contingent to ensure the participation of and
the development of American talent.” When asked about this, the NACL spokesperson
said: "We will be bringing an IPL kind of a format but it will have
groomed players in competition with others. We would like to promote
our domestic players and we would like to get US team players playing."
“In
the last two years we have gone around from east to west to every
possible place in with the help of the current board members, advisors
and Mr. Dainty, and we have collected a lot of information about what
really needs to be done at the grassroots,” the spokesperson said.
NACL plans to have a school
level and University level development program and provide opportunities for
local home grown talent to earn lucrative League contracts. "This is consistent with the
International Cricket Council’s mandate on globalization of the sport," the spokesperson said.
“There
is a lot of incredible talent. There are local schools and universities
that we would like to explore and create an awareness and preparedness
to make it a career sport."
Elaborating on this, he said: “The goal is for cricketers in the USA to
be able to make a living by playing cricket. There will also be an
ecosystem surrounding these cricketers that will include several other
jobs that will be created. These will all go towards making cricket a
professional sport and not just a weekend beer league.”
 NACL's
promoters, the spokesperson said, were well networked in both Hollywood
and Bollywood - which is the Indian entertainment industry, and his
league would be power-packed with non-cricket entertainment as well.
The
game had to be promoted outside of its expatriate base, the
spokesperson said, “If we want to bring people to the stadiums to watch
cricket, to spend $50 on tickets, then we need to bring in people who
have never experienced cricket before, we need to attract families and
have something for the kids. Everything we can to draw people to the
sport, we should.”
Speaking about the need to build the
correct infrastructure, he said: “We need to look at what the full
members are doing. We need to have certain core infrastructure – proper
grounds, facilities for international matches. We strongly feel that by
building that infrastructure, going to schools, making this a career
sport it will definitely help the sport. It is going to take some time
but if we work diligently and have the right people and the right team,
we can do it.”
When asked when the full details of the deal would be shared, he said:
“We are working with the President and his team who have been working
with us very diligently. We are making sure we are all on the same
page, a month’s time is quite good and who knows, it could be earlier
as well. Most of the work has been done and it is just a matter of
crossing some dots.”
As
for the timeline, he said, “I’m very hopeful, 2011 was our goal but
2012 is a more realistic timeline for the T20 league. We will start
our grassroots activities sooner.”
Coming back to the Pearls
Cup, the NACL spokesperson said that he was happy with how things
turned out: “We have a beautiful stadium with so much capacity. USACA
has brought New Zealand and Sri Lanka here and a big crowd showed up.
A good portion of them stayed back for USA-Jamaica T20 match. It is a
privilege to see people who appreciate and follow quality cricket!”
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By Gokul Chakravarthy
 A lot has been said and written about the two-match Twenty20 International series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka and its effectiveness as an “advertisement for cricket in the USA”.
The thing about advertisements is that there needs to be a product first that can be sold and there needs to be a market to sell that product to. This weekend was a first step in announcing that product – “[World-class] Cricket in America”. Where many previous cricket boards, individual entrepreneurs and business conglomerates have had little success, the current bunch of people behind the Pearls Cup have been able to give that product an initial shape and feel their market.
Photo (left): The jumbotron announcing the match, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
This product, no doubt, requires a lot of shaping and evolving. After all, the very first iPod looks almost unusable by today’s standards. But there is no doubt that the product itself has its merits and it has its market.
In fact, it is only now that advertisements should be worked on as the product itself evolves. New Zealand’s leader, Daniel Vettori agreed, saying “It [The Pearls Cup] has certainly given USA cricket a profile and I think that’s the biggest thing to come from that.”
As matters unfolded in the second of these two matches, New Zealand had “assessed the conditions and adapted to those pretty well" the previous day as Sri Lanka’s captain Kumar Sangakkara himself put it.
Sri Lanka might have been a day behind on that learning curve, but by the time the last of the 2-match T20 series ended, they had leapfrogged New Zealand. A magic over from Nuwan Kulasekara, where he took 3 top-order Kiwi wickets, and tentative batting from New Zealand led to the Pearls Trophy being shared by the two teams.
While the Man of the Match choice was obvious, Daniel Vettori’s name on the Man of the Series award must have been a nuanced choice. He had indeed batted with an alarming fluency over the weekend, not the type that we are used to seeing from a Sangakkara or a Mahela Jayawardena, but in his own ‘not pretty, but effective’ kind of way.
“I think my game is [that] I can play spin and in these sort of conditions you’re going to face a lot of spin bowlers and lot of med ium pace bowlers. Over the last few years, I’ve tried to develop that style of my game. So I just have a comfort level and a confidence in those sorts of conditions,” he was to explain it later.
As captain, for a second day in a row, he had not hesitated to bat first. But the difference this time was that Sri Lanka had picked Kulasekara to be the #2 bowler with the usual suspect for #1, Angelo Matthews. This was to end up being THE difference between the two teams. Sangakkara opined that “This is the type of wicket that assists Kulasekara very well. It is low and had a bit of zip in the morning, not pace, but just a bit of movement that he exploited very well. [We are] pretty grateful to him for giving us that start that allowed us to apply the pressure.”
Photo (right): Nuwan Kulasekara celebrating (left in the background) celebrating the last New Zealand wicket with Sanatha Jayasuriya, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
The only other person Kulasekara needed assistance from was the umpire. He opened that over by hiting Aaron Redmond’s (1) leg before the wicket. He finished it with a double-strik; first bowling Brendon McCullum(1) to a gem that just swung out, leaving McCullum playing for his customary in-swinger and missing and then, in the last ball of the over, removing RJ Nicol (0) who was also adjudged LBW by umpire Ian Gould.
Their skipper, who further promoted himself bravely up the order to #5 in this match, said of all this mayhem, “Kulasekara, in particular, bowled straight and probably did enough with it and he got wickets with really good balls. As a batting unit, sometimes you just have to accept that the bowling unit is on top. When we were 3 for 4 wickets and 13 for 5, it was always going to be difficult to come back from then and post a competitive total.”
And difficult it was. If New Zealand had scrapped their way to 120 the previous day, they crawled to 81 in this match, thanks largely to fighting scores from Vettori (27 from 24 balls) and Nathan McCullum (36 from 39 balls), the hero with the bat of their nail-biting WT20 victory over Sri Lanka. When Vettori was adjudged caught behind to a ball that he missed and hit the ground instead, one could hear the last gasp from the dying New Zealand innings.
A defeat for Sri Lanka chasing 81 was not improbable - they had imploded to 96 in their chase of 120 earlier.
Mahela’s fluency returned in the first 3 overs and he scored 17 out of Sri Lanka’s 18/0. There were boundaries and even a 6 with ‘Mahela” written all over it. That shoved Vettori and his wards’ already faint possibility of winning into the realms of impossibility. When Mahela got out and Thissara Perera walked in and waltzed his way to a couple of meaty blows himself, all Vettori could expect to save was face. Perera was particularly severe on Tim Southee whom he took for 15 runs in one over.
 The demons that seem to have taunted the Kiwis were absent when Sri Lanka batted. None of their bowlers really troubled the Lankans as they shared the honors with an easy win in the end. It had been expected that the series would be a contest among equals and it ended with a result that fit the bill, 1-1.
Photo (left): Tillakaratne Dilshan swatting a ball as Daniel Vettori looks on, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
An announcement was made, at the end of the match, of a completely out-of-the-left-field “Super Over” type of tie-breaker to decide the winner of the Trophy. But just as the assemble crowd started salivating at the prospect of seeing some big hits, the organizers apologizes and reneged.
For those familiar with and facing on a daily basis the various factors that have been holding US cricket back, May 22nd and May 23rd of 2010 shall be a symbolic victory. They will feel a combination of release and relief. A relief that they no longer require to engage in a leap of faith to believe that world-class cricket can belong within these United States.
How long that sense of relief shall last now depends on the ones that are entrusted with directing the momentum from this event into a meaningful direction. They had some good advice from Vettori and Sangakkara.
 Vettori:
“I think they [the US cricket team] need to get some games together because they are spread so far and wide and then they disappear for a month and don’t see each other and don’t see the coaches. If they are able to get together more as a team and be coached more, it’s going to be a real positive step for them moving forward.
 Sangakkara:
The final vindication of cricket in any country is that the country owns it. They feel that they are an intrinsic part of it. They have that pride in and that feeling of “this is my team these is my players who are walking out playing for us”. So, it’s very important to make sure that more cricket is played and to make sure that the rules, the intricacies, the strategy: it’s all made an awareness program that spreads the word of cricket right throughout the US. Those are the things that really matter at the end.
Post Match Interview with New Zealand players, 2nd T20, Pearls Cup, New Zealand v Sri Lanka from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
Post Match Interview with Sri Lankan players, 2nd T20, Pearls Cup, New Zealand v Sri Lanka from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
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By Peter Della Penna
 USA played their best match of the weekend, but couldn’t overcome a series of drops and misfields as they fell short by 19 runs to Jamaica in the second Twenty20 match between the sides on Sunday afternoon in The Pearls Cup at Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Fla.
Photo (left): An American fan expressing his love for cricket, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
Marlon Samuels was named Man of the Match for the second game in a row after scoring 36 and taking 2 for 18 with his off spin late in the match to prevent USA from surging past the target of 141. Danza Hyatt was named Man of the Series after he finished with the most runs for Jamaica in the three matches.
“Our fielding has been a major let down, a major disappointment,” said USA captain Steve Massiah. “If there’s one thing in cricket, you’re guaranteed to field. You might not bat or bowl, but you must field and the dropped catches today and the misfields proved to be very very costly.” USA had three drops in the match, in addition to several misfields and overthrows that added unnecessary runs to Jamaica’s total.
Jamaica won the toss and batted first on the same pitch that was used by New Zealand and Sri Lanka earlier in the day. Adrian Gordon kept things tight at one end with solid medium pace until Muhammad Ghous made the first breakthrough in the ninth over. Ghous flighted one perfectly to draw Dean Morgan out of his crease and the batsman was beaten in flight to be stumped by Steven Taylor for  19 making it 40 for 1.
Shawn Findlay joined Samuels at the wicket and the two forged a 43-run partnership, the best of the innings for Jamaica. Findlay was the more active of the two, routinely coming out of his crease for some audacious strokes. However, it was Samuels who fell first, giving a simple return catch to off-spinner Timroy Allen to depart for 36, bringing the total to 83 for 2 in the 15th over.
Photo (right): A new opening pair of skipper Steve Massiah and youngster, Steven Taylor, wack in to chase 142, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
Danza Hyatt fell for 1 off 3 balls trying to launch the off-spin of Massiah out of the ground, but only managed to pick out Aditya Mishra at long on to make it 88 for 3 in the 16th. From there, USA looked set to restrict Jamaica to 120-130, but Findlay was well supported by quick bursts from Wavell Hinds and Tamar Lambert. Findlay finally fell in the 17th over to make it 105 for 4 after a quicker ball from Allen kept low and knocked back the stumps, but not before top scoring with 37 in 26 balls with a boundary and three sixes to his name.
Hinds and Lambert turned it on late, combining for four boundaries and a six in the final few overs before both men fell in the final over to Lennox Cush. Hinds was caught at long on for 16 by Moazzam Imtiaz while Lambert was out on the final ball of the innings for 19, slicing one to substitute fielder Robert Cresser stationed at third man in the circle. Cresser was on the field because Andy Mohammed injured his right hand attempting a diving catch on the boundary earlier in the innings.
 Mohammed reportedly was taken to a local hospital and needed five stitches to close up a gash and it is unknown whether or not the injury will prevent him from competing for USA in the ICC Americas Division One Tournament which gets underway on Friday in Bermuda.
Photo (right): US skipper, Steve Massiah, stroking his way back to form with a forceful 47, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
Despite the problems USA had scoring runs in the first two games, it looked like they had a reasonable chance of chasing down the target of 142. USA had an excellent platform established with a solid start they received from Massiah and Taylor opening the innings. The two batsmen created the biggest partnership of the match as they put on 49 runs before Taylor was out trying to hit a six, mistiming a delivery from medium pacer Hyatt to be caught by Andrew Richardson running in from long on for 13 in the 9th over.
Massiah kept chugging along with Cush at the other end and the captain managed to entertain the crowd at just under a run a ball by hitting one four and two big sixes, including a sweetly timed slog sweep over deep midwicket. But just after he cleared the rope at long on for his second six, he was fooled by a flighted delivery from Nkrumah Bonner and sent a simple catch back to the bowler to be out for 47, making it 90 for 2 in the 14th over.
Photo (right): Jamaican skipper, Tamar Lambert, talks to John Aaron, Secretary of USACA at the awards ceremony with the Pearls Cup in the foreground, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
Cush tried to up the scoring rate, but only managed to top edge a full delivery from Samuels and was caught by wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh to be out for 17 making it 92 for 3 at the end of 15. Mishra and Carl Wright got out cheaply in the next few overs and too much work was left for Allen and Clain Williams to do. The two men finished not out on 11 and 8 respectively and were the only two batsmen whose strike rate was over 100.
Post Match Presentation USA v Jamaica 2nd T20 from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
Post Match Interview with Steve Massiah, USA v Jamaica 2nd T20 from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
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By Gokul Chakravarthy
Match Scorecard
 The very first official international match in the USA opened with a lot of fanfare and "fan fare". The crowd had been building up all through the morning, even as the USA played against Jamaica in the 1st T20 of the day at the Central Broward Regional Park.
The colorful Sri Lankan fans grossly outnumbered the Kiwi supporters. In fact, one friend pointed out how there were more Indian supporters than New Zealand supporters in the ground. But that didn’t deter a trio of the loyal “beige brigade” from showing up in their unmistakable gear in support of Daniel Vettori and his men. Nor did it deter the New Zealand cricketers themselves in playing to their best.
Photo (left): Sri Lanka and New Zealand pose in front of the Pearls Cup, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
Vettori was to say later that “Leading up to it, there was a little bit of that exhibition feel, once both teams got on to the park, there was a real desire to win and to pick up, I suppose, from where we left off in the WT20. We wanted to finish a long season on a high note and to win a game here would do that.”
Daniel Vettori didn’t have any hesitation in choosing to bat first. The thought of chasing any score on a slow pitch against the Sri Lankan slow bowlers must have been a huge, if not the only, reason for this choice.
Brendon McCullum and Aaron Redmond opened the batting for them. McCullum hit some lovely stroked to the boundary, one even going over the boundary prompting the PA announcer at the stadium to ecstatically acknowledge that it was the “first international six on US soil”.
Photo (right): New Zealand fans cheer their team at Lauderhill, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
But that sort of hitting was not going to be possible on a consistent basis on this pitch. Most of the other New Zealand batsman found that out the hard way. Angelo Matthews took a blinder to get rid of him in the 4th over with the score on 25.
Sri Lanka’s fielding and bowling was quite intense and Ross Taylor narrowly escaped a run out appeal against him soon after he got in. A free stroke-player like him couldn’t survive too much longer in any case, especially when he felt he had to resort to quick and risky 1s and 2s. His eventual score of 27 from 30 balls was a great indication of that. The Lankans didn’t miss the second time when Nuwan Kulasekara and wicket-keeper, Kumar Sangakkara colluded to run him out. He had walked even before the 3rd umpire could pass his verdict.
It wasn’t until Vettori himself marched in, at the fall of the 4th wicket of Scott Styris. He had pushed himself up the order above Martin Guptill. He started a little bit of the recovery act, more so in terms of the run-rate, than anything else. His ability with the bat has often spared New Zealand’s top order severe embarrassment and, in some cases, even won them matches. When asked about how he had gone about constructing his innings, “Straightaway, I thought 120. We weren’t sure it would be enough, but we knew it would be competitive. But we kept losing wickets and so it made it difficult and it was hard to hit from this [The Pavilion] end because of the wind and the boundaries. So we were set to scrap for everything and in the end 120 was enough today.”
 Even though Scott Styris and Martin Guptill didn’t score too many runs themselves, their respective stays at the crease with Taylor and Vettori respectively played a big role in their team reaching that score.
Photo (left): Daniel Vettori walking back after giving his team something to defend, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
For Sri Lanka, their fielding and catching, was quite a highlight. Their bowlers just had to avoid offering full-length deliveries or pace that the New Zealand batsmen could use to score boundaries. Led by Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis, they did that quite effectively.
In defense of his 120, Vettori opened his attack with pace on both ends – Kyle Mills from the Pavilion End and newcomer Andy McKay, who the coach and captain had spoken of quite highly in the lead-up to this series, from the other end. This meant that his tendency to open with Nathan McCullum, which would have fit this pitch like a glove, had to be quelled and the batsmen would get enough pace from the deliveries to play their strokes – a luxury Sri Lanka didn’t bestow upon their own batsmen.
Mahela Jayawardena’s initial WT20 form had given way to 3 poor scores in his last 3 matches at that tournament. His vicissitudes wouldn’t let go in this match as he edged the 2nd ball of his and his team’s innings to leave the field for a disappointing duck. Tillakaratne Dilshan used it to good effect, though. He played some aggressive shots, along with regular one-down, Sangakkara. But much like Taylor, he found out that on this pitch he was not going to be able to play his own game. But unlike Taylor, he refused to try and adapt. Kyle Mills’ subtle change of pace, beat his defenses and brought his wicket down.
Andy McKay was replaced by Tim Southee and Mills by Nathan McCullum. After just 1 over of Southee, Vettori brought himself on from the Makeshift-TV-tower end.
The pair of Sangakkara and Angelo Matthews was the only one that gave Sri Lanka any hope of a win. Matthews extended his streak with the bat beyond the WT20 and top-scored for Sri Lanka. Even though the scorecard would reveal that he had done almost exactly what Taylor had done for his team, what it conceals is his much more fluent stay at the crease. He, along with Sangakkara, was the only batsman that was able to time the ball consistently on the surface on offer.
Photo (right): Mahela Jayawardena walks back after the 2nd ball, even as the jumbotron replays his dismissal, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
Scott Styris came and plugged the scoring so much that even the well-set Angelo Matthews, who had taken Nathan McCullum out of the attack, could not hit him clean. He holed out to a safe Jacob Oram at long on, who was on for most of the innings for Martin Guptill.
Whereas New Zealand had the services of Vettori at the bottom of their order, Sri Lanka had no such resistance from theirs and capitulated to a mare 92 on the penultimate delivery of their innings.
“On this track, we should have been a bit smarter the way in which we batter. We had severe setbacks in the first 6 and right through the middle overs. We got to make sure tomorrow we’ve got a different batting plan, individually,” is how Sangakkara was to sum up his team’s woes on the day.
It is all too natural and simplistic to bash a sluggish pitch like the one at Lauderhill when not too many runs are scored, but for the 1000s of fans who showed up and witnessed this match firsthand, the type of fielding and bowling skills both New Zealand and Sri Lanka had brought to the match was a spectacle in itself. People were loudly cheering diving stops, slides a foot inside the boundary rope, diving catches, lightning-fast reflexes of the bowlers when the ball was hit back to them. These were aspects of the sport most on the US soil had never seen before up close.
One such ardent fan from Austin, Texas, Michael Gale, who also happens to be the Chairman of an Intercity Cricket Tournament in that state, felt that “US cricket has finally woken from a slumber, stretched its limbs and joined the real world of international cricket. There are individuals and entrepreneurs in the US that will start to wake up and start investing. We should see events like this as the norm going forward and not exception. I hope we can all support in a positive way to our [collective] future.”
 These sentiments were echoed by many in the stands who didn’t hold back in expressing their joy.
Photo (left): Fans having great fun at the Central Broward Regional Park, Courtesy: DreamCricket.com
The players themselves couldn’t overlook this. “There were obviously a lot of Sri Lankan fans here. So it had that subcontinent feel. The crowd was entertained and the entertainment off the field was great for the game. And whilst it wasn’t as high-scoring a game as people might have wanted, it was still quite a thrilling game, as lower-scoring ones can be,” said Vettori.
“It was nice to see so many Sri Lankans here. They had flown down from a lot of places here in the States. Sri Lankans have a lot of fun when they come to watch cricket games and today was no different. We can hopefully see a better performance from them.”
Cricket-spoilt international fans and 'experts' may gripe about the pitch and the conditions but to the US cricket fans, who should have the last say on the matter, international cricket has well and truly arrived in their backyard and they can't wait to get a lot more of it.
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By Gokul Chakravarthy
Match Scorecard
 The
Twenty20 festival had well and truly begun when USA won toss and asked
the Jamaican men in yellow to bat first at the Central Broward Regional
Park in Lauderhill, Florida on a bright Saturday morning.
Photo (left): Man of the Match and ex-West Indian international,
Marlon Samuels sizing up a delivery from Steve Massiah, Courtesy: Gokul
Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com
Lennox Cush opening the bowling for USA from the Pavilion End
indicated a bit more of a ‘winning’ gameplan as opposed to that of
gauging new players’ abilities in match situations, which was the case
in the previous match. Cush went for 7 in the 1st over but showed why
he was in his captain’s plans. Bilal Khan had his captain’s faith as
well and kept it, opening from the “TV-tower End”.
The scoreboards, announcements and other organizational aspects
around the match were also much more up to snuff from the word “go”
during this match. Much like the US team’s game plan for the 50-over
match on Friday, the organizers got a chance to test things out and
iron out the kinks for the weekend.
USA came into the match with 4 significant changes: 16-year-old
Steven Taylor, Lennox Cush, Timroy Allen and Aditya Mishra came in for
Clain Williams, Moazzam Imtiaz, Muhammed Ghous and Andy Mohammad.
Yesterday’s hero Pagon stayed yesterday’s news as he went for a
breezy 13. He was caught expertly at point by Mishra who had to go down
low and hold the briskly slashed ball from Pagon inches off the ground.
He made the catch look so ho-hum that the crowd couldn’t be blamed for
thinking it was a dot ball. Cush had his first and only victim of the
match.
When West Indies internationals Samuels and Hinds got together and
Stanford T20 star for Guyana Cush was bowling to them, it was one of
the 1st all-star matchups of the day.
At 33/1 in 6 overs, USA’s opening bowlers had done the job for their
skipper by restricting the vastly experienced and skillful pair of
Samuels and Hinds to a below-par T20 score coming out of the powerplay.
This start was made possible by Cush’s unwieldy brand of spin, where
he jumps up to the crease and plops the ball down at almost the same
point on the pitch most of the time. It is the trajectory and pace at
which the ball travels to that point and hence from that point to the
batsman that kept changing and ended up tying the batsmen down to just
1s and 2s, at the most.
Khan bowled a consistent line and length as well and that was his
undoing as well. When in the 8th over, Wavell Hinds faced him, Khan
couldn’t quite alter that line to suit the left-hander, resulting in a
few wide balls in that over. Nevertheless, 43/1 in 8 overs would still
count as a job well done, although it wasn’t without a fair
contribution from the pitch itself.
Knowing this, Steve Massiah replaced Cush with Timroy Allen and Khan
with himself. Allen’s bowling style is of the ‘moderate’ variety to
Muhammed Ghous’ orthodox and Cush/ Massiah’s experimental. Allen had
the Hinds and Samuels in a bit of a quandary about whether or not to
take him on from his very first delivery. That indecisiveness spilled
into their running and Hinds was all but gone, having backed up a long
way from his nonstriker’s end and being sent back by Samuels. Massiah
would not accept the generous offer. His fumble at midwicket allowed
the batsman to scamper back to his ground.
At 72/1 after 12 overs, Masshaih felt comfortable enough to bring
back a bit of pace into the proceedings and he was right. This was not
to haunt him and his team for too long as, in the 13th over, Orlando
Baker’s 1st, trying to break free from the shackles of the spin twins
from both ends that had kept the a check on the scoring, Hinds spooned
up an easy catch to Adrian Gordon at long off.
Massiah bowled through his overs without much damage in terms of boundaries, but the runs were being accumulated at m ore
than a run-a-ball. Baker’s 2nd over changed that. A belligerent Danza
Hyatt took deflated Baker’s dough with 2 fours and a six in that over,
making the overall tally a massive 16 runs, the innings’ most fruitful.
Photo (right): West Indian international, Wavell Hinds, stroking
it "Windies-style", Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com
Samuels also came to the party in the last 4 overs and the duo put
on close to 50 runs in that time, helped along generously by Gordon’s
juicy offerings at too full or too short a length, negating the
difficulties in the pitch and allowing Hyatt and Samuels to free their
arms as they saw ‘hit’.
A wicket in the last ball of the innings must have helped USA go
into the dressing room with their morale curve on an upward slope.
145/3 was going to be a tough score to chase on this sluggish pitch and
with enough spinners and slow bowlers of his own, Tamar Lambert of
Jamaica must have felt confident enough of beating the USA in their
chase.
Lambert didn’t change his tactics with the ball at the top of the
innings from the 50-over version. Andrew Richardson’s 2-for-28 from 6.5
overs and the best bowler on show the day before, Krishmar Santokie
with returns of 3-for-11 from his 7 overs, were good enough to open the
attack for him.
Massiah, on the other hand, moved Baker down in his batting order to
make way for Mishra while keeping Carl Wright where he was the previous
day.
One pair did not disappoint its captain while the other one did.
A maiden over from Richardson to the struggling Wright was followed
up by a 2-run over from Santokie from the Makeshift-TV-tower End. Carl
Wright’s tentative loft was almost caught by the mid off fielder. When
he got back on strike later that over, he decided enough was enough and
got well under a ball from the giant of a man, Richardson and lofted it
into ‘no man’s land’ over covers for a lazily run 2. These are the
finer aspects of the sport that upcoming teams such as USA would do
well to grasp and do well in. It is often said that the shorter
versions help in leveling the playing field between opposing teams that
might otherwise have a wider gap in talent. Running between the wickets
and fielding are aspects that can leverage such shorter versions to
bridge that gap. What would have certainly been 3 runs for Test playing
batsmen was reduced to a mere 2 by the USA openers.
They rectified that once or twice in the later overs from Santokie.
Bevon Brown replaced Santokie and struck in his very first over when a
hard-hit shot from Wright was snapped up by the quick reflexes of
Samuels. Samuels then came on to replace Richardson and got a wicket
all by himself soon thereafter. Mishra played all over one from him and
was bowled for 10.
Lennox Cush, the vice-captain, joined Massiah at the fall of
Mishra’s wicket and didn’t last long either as Brown caught his loft
gone wrong, as a top-edge popped the ball way up over the pitch. A
steady Brown set himself under the ball, waited for it for what seemed
like eternity, and took the catch after its tantalizing aerial stay.
What was more entertaining was his celebration after taking that catch.
He moved backwards in short, Michael-Jackson-moonwalk-style, jerks
keeping pace with Cush alongside him as he was walking back to the
pavilion. This even brought a wry smile on Cush’ face.
But Massiah was not smiling as he and Aditya Thyagarajan got
together – the former latter was given a clean chit by the coach, Imran
Khan, the previous day while the former was considered to be still out
of form. Aditya couildn’t repeat his batting display from the previous
day as he fell for a meager 2.
Massiah struggled as he shifted between extreme caution and extreme
adventure, much to the irritation of the crowd, which was well into the
4 digits. At 67/6 in 15 overs, USA’s hopes of winning the match had
crossed over into wishful levels. From that point on, all the USA team
did was, as Marlon Samuels later put it after winning the Man of the
Match award, “worked really hard, but the Jamaican team is a much
better team and executed their plans properly.”
 The
only bright spots for USA were the aggressive intent and execution
shown by Ashhar Mehdi and the entry to the crease of USA’s first-ever
home-born and youngest cricketer, 16-year-old prodigy, Steven Taylor.
Photo (left): The only 2 bright spots for USA, Steven Taylor and
Asshar Mehdi (stroking the ball), Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy,
DreamCricket.com
Mehdi’s clean hitting was well-appreciated by all assembled, not the
least of which was his own skipper Massiah. His score of 28 in 20 balls
was the only thing in USA’s batting that resembled anything remotely
invoking the spirit of T20 cricket. Taylor’s sedate innings came to an
abrupt end when he was brilliantly stumped down the leg side by the
fleet-footed and even soft-handed, Carlton Baugh who has also
represented West Indies in the past. This was Baugh’s 2nd such stumping
of the day, the earlier one getting rid of Baker.
USA’s innings sauntered to a mere 98/9 in 20 overs. They could just
about stake their claim at having played out their overs but very
little more than that. When asked about his team’s game plan, Massiah
was to say “We executed our plans up until the last 2 overs, but then
they took the match away from us. Taking into consideration the fact
that we were batting on a pitch that had been used for 120 overs, it
was more difficult to bat second. There is definitely room for
improvement as we move forward. They had the luxury of having wickets
intact. When you have wickets in the last 5 overs, you can go hard. But
I thought today was a much improved performance [from us].”
 When
asked about his own batting, he added “We haven’t played in a couple of
months an the guys are coming out of the winter. In T20 cricket, you’ve
gotta kind of improvise and hopefully throw the bowler off their line
and length. The pitch was very slow and so it was very hard. So you
couldn’t really go through the line of the ball. It didn’t work today.”
Photo (right): US Cricketers starstruck by the presence of one
of the cleanest hitter in cricket, Ross Taylor, Courtesy: Gokul
Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com
About the crowd missing out on some entertainment due to lack of
boundaries when USA batted, Massiah said “It’s unfortunate that the
crowd hasn’t been able to see the best of the America talent, but it is
only because we are going through a transition period.”
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By Gokul Chakravarthy
 The first and only 50-over match of this one-of-a-kind cricket weekend in Florida began with Jamaican skipper, Tamar Lambert calling right and choosing to bat first on a pitch that has been called “sluggish”, “a touch on the slow side” and “a bit slow” by the players and coaches from New Zealand and Sri Lanka the day before. Lambert’s openers, Danza Hyatt and Donovan Pagon, sized up the pitch for the most part during the first 8 overs as they took their team to a conservative 39/0.
Photo (left): The majestic pavilion at the Central Broward Regional Park cricket stadium hosted the US and Jamican cricketers, Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com
For USA, Bilal Khan and Adrian Gordon opened the attack with the ball and a standard ODI field, sans the luxury of a slip cordon. Even though neither of them was troubling either batsmen with express pace or beating them with movement, they bowled straight enough and at good enough lengths to keep them quiet for the most part.
Khan’s 5th over - the inning’s 9th - the Jamaicans started playing some aggressive strokes. First Pagon played some strokes through the “V” – one confident drive stung skipper Steve Massiah at covers so hard that he had to first move himself off covers and then get some attention at the end of the over – and a lovely late cut to the boundary.
In the next over, Hyatt pulled a short one from Gordon. This is when the outfield’s sluggishness truly came into view. The ball plopped to a dead halt just a meter inside the boundary rope, causing the batsmen to just 2 runs.
Orlando Baker took the ball from the “make-shift-sightscreen end” and Moazzam Imtiaz came on from the Pavilion End in a double-change after  the 1st powerplay. Massiah didn’t opt for the 2nd powerplay and that gave the “military medium” Imtiaz and Baker much-needed cover. But Imtiaz, whose inspired selection in this squad had been a topic of discussion prior to this series, who was one of the 4 fielders outside the 30-yard circle didn’t provide that cover effectively when he converted a single into a boundary by just letting the innocuously hit ball go right under his legs onto the long on baoundary in the 13th over. He must have started the his 2nd over, the 14th of the innings under the pressure of that let-off and considering that fact, he did quite well to restrict the now well-set Jamaican openers to just 4 runs.
Photo (left): Danza Hyatt smacks his 1st 6 off Muhammed Ghous, Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com
The teams went into the first drinks break after 15 overs with the score at 81/0. When Muhammed Ghous came on from the make-shift-sightscreen end” in the he was welcomed with a good ol’ slog over cow corner by Hyatt, but Ghous got his back when in his 3rd over, another such attempted landed safely in the hands of Clain Williams, for a well-made 73 (seven 4s and a 6).
This brought a huge cheer from the crowd as the marquee player in this match-up, Marlon Samuels, returning to the international fold from suspension made his way to the middle. Samuels’ skills as a top-order batsmen have certainly been missed by the West Indies, although, during a long string of matches just before his suspension, he had not made any impression on any opposition worth mention.
Massiah brought himself on in the 31st over and struck immediately when he took out the much-hyped Samuels. He had batted tentatively, using his go-to tactic, the touch to the leg side to collect a few runs. His first authoritative stroke, a drive to the covers, ended up being uppish. He had not come to terms with the pitch yet and Orlando Baker caught the straight, but very well-timed and fast-paced ball without error.
The captain, Lambert, joined the cruising Pagon who was well past his 50 at this stage. Convinced about the virtues of the slower bowlers, Massiah opted to have Aditya Thyagarajan’s leg spin complement his own Chris-Gaylish off spin variety from opposing ends.
 Massiah continued from his end chopped and changed from the other end with Baker first and then Ghous. The period between overs 35 and 50 might have been a good time to bring on the powerplay but in a display of very conservative captaincy, Massiah might have missed a trick and lost the element of surprise by not enforcing the new batsman at the crease and another in his nervous 90s to go for their shots earlier than they might have expected it. But that was not to matter on the day because in the 40th over, Hyatt mistimed a shot and got out, stranded on 94.
Photo (left): Debutant Muhammed Ghous, bowls as Man of the Match, Donovan Pagon backs up, Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com
The remaining batsmen batted around their skipper and accelerated in the last few overs to muster an imposing score of 307. Given that the pitch was slow, this was an even better score. USA came out to bat as if burdened by that knowledge. The very first ball, from tall and fast-bowler like Andrew Richardson yielded a wicket to the Jamaicans when Carl Wright, one of USA’s star batsmen, turned one down the leg and turned back for a nonexistent 2nd run. Krishmar Santokie’s left arm sprung into action for deep fine leg as he picked up and threw the ball in flat and straight to his wicket keeper who made no mistake in putting the wicket down. Wright was left struggling to make it back into his ground. Santokie had to bowl the next over. He came in and immediately hot the right areas.
Much slower than Richardson, Santokie was a Chaminda Vaas type “hit-the-right-areas-and-swing-the-ball-ever-so-slightly” kind of bowler. USA’s #3, considered by many to be their #1 batsman, Steve Massiah, came in next and showed just why he is held in such high regard almost immediately. He gave good balls their due and stroked his way tone classic boundary through the covers when the length was offered to him.
Many short and wide balls from both bowlers were not taken full toll off because the pitch was behaving like a Gemini. The batsmen were left looking more like inept fly-swatters than dragon-slaying knights as they kept missing these juicy opportunities; some balls passed above the bat, some below. Santigo started hitting the right lengths and even a hint of swing into the right-handers from his 3rd over, the innings’ 6th. He also started cleverly slowing down his pace, allowing his wicketkeeper to come up to the wicket as well. The ball was well and truly swinging for him at the speed and he was beginning to beat the bats of Baker and Massiah regularly. One such ball in the 8th over, missed Messiah’s defenses and the umpire had no doubt in judging him out-LBW.
 As the visibly dejected Massiah walked back to the pavilion, vigorously gesticulating that the ball had not bounced as much as he had expected it to. He stopped to pass on some advice to the incoming Clain Williams. That advice seemingly fell on deaf ears because 2 balls later. Except for the difference in their physique, almost everything in the 2 dismissals was exactly the same, including the walk back to the pitch.
Photo (left): Steve Massiah adjusts his technique to tackle the low bounce a bit too late, Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com
At 27/3 in 10 overs, USA had stumbled right at the beginning of their chase.
Baker finally got a measure of the pitch in the 12th over when he connected to a short and wide delivery from Richardson and deposited it, one bounce, over and into the backward point boundary. Lambert changed ends for Richardson using Brown’s off-spin from the Make-shift-sightscreen End that Richardson himself had been bowling from. Brown immediately followed in the footsteps of Massiah and Ghous and made the pitch do a lot of the talking as he kept a lid on USA’s shots.
The free-stroking Aditya Thyagarajan had joined the solid-looking baker at this point. The situation demanded him to play cautiously. He obliged, took his time and picked the balls to go after, and more importantly, the areas to hit the ball into.
Baker and Thyagarajan then hunkered down to build a long, if slow, partnership that lasted till the 32nd over when a straight loft from Thyagarajan turned into a catch that was accepted with ease and delight by Brown at the long on boundary.
By this point, Lambert had eased his way into a spin-only tactic from both ends. And so they came, one by one, in the form of Brown, Wallace, Bonner, Samuels and Lambert himself. Other than the odd boundary from Baker’s bat, there was not much that any of the other bowlers were leaving for the USA batsmen to even relish, let alone feast on.
For their part, the US batsmen also made Lambert and his team’s job of closing the match very, very easy. Their task was reduced to such a chore of bowling dot balls, picking up the ball from the outfield or infield, throwing back to the wicket. This humdrum existence even moved some of the Jamaican outfielders to jive along with the sound tests that the DJs were performing in the background. When plucky wicketkeeper, Ashhar Mehdi who scored a more-than-a-run-a-ball 24, joined Baker and the duo started rotating singles and effecting boundaries, at least the most sincere American fans would have felt some butterflies in their bellies. The duo put on 43 runs in just about 5 overs. Once Baker fell to a mistimed slog, caught by Wallace off skipper Lambert, even those fans must have given up hope of a US victory in this match.
The remaining batsmen scratched around to a meager 175 in 48.5 overs.
 When asked about the seeming easiness with which his team got the job done, Tamar Lambert said “We had a score of 307 which is a good total on this wicket. Our openers set a good foundation. We talked about it and for Pagon to go out and execute like that was important and really good to see.” On Marlon Samuel’s return, he said “Marlon hadn’t been playing any cricket for a while. He had only been training with us for a couple of months back in Jamaica.
Photo (left): The jumbotron at its best at the Central Broward Regional Park, Courtesy: Gokul Chakravarthy, DreamCricket.com
There was always going to be a lot of pressure on him. He did’t score many runs but contributed with the ball and in the field as well. So when he comes out for the rest of the series, he will be hopefully a lot more relaxed and get back into form.” Pagon was also awarded the "Man of the Match" prize for his effective 94 runs.
From the US perspective, Steve Massiah said he was glad to be part of this historic occasion where his country was hosting an international match.
“If we look at the team, we had 6 new players. We could definitely improve, but there are some positives we can take out of the game. Hopefully come tomorrow we can put up a better show.”
“Whatever is presented in front of us, we are hungry to play and eager to perform. We are looking forward to every opportunity because that has been one of the main concerns for us in the past … lack of international games,” said the experienced US skipper.
He added that “today was an opportunity for some of the newer guys. I was using it to evaluate some of the newer players in pressure situations with a long-term view to Bermuda. We didn’t miss a trick. It was my game plan. It would have been good to win today, but Bermuda was more important to us.”
The US national coach also agreed with this plan and added that while the team always goes into a match to win, there were smaller goals being aimed at. Some of these goals were, “as a part of our strategy, we know where we are. We wanted to give certain guys experience, certain batsmen chance to get into form, certain bowlers to bowl. The 2 opening bowlers, Bilal and Gordon, these are new guys. They have never played for the US before, they were on debut. So we wanted to put them under pressure situations against 2 top-quality 1st class batsmen and they opened the bowling reasonable well. They weren’t carted all around the ground. We rate young off-spinner, Muhammed Ghous very highly. We wanted to put him on the big stage. Someone like Orlando, who is our premium all-rounder, to go in there have a good knock. Wanted people like Aditya to keep going. Steve Massiah to get back into form.”
A look at the scorecard reveals that some of those goals were achieved and some not. But both captain and coach seem to be keen on reshaping the new wards into regional champs in the upcoming ICC Americas Cup in Bermuda. They would also like the added bonus of winning a match or two against Jamiaca, who “are probably a tougher opposition that we will face in Bermuda” according to coach Khan.
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By Peter Della Penna
 Growing
up in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, many of the players who are currently
part of their country’s national teams would have dreamed of playing
cricket in all sorts of far off destinations. The Melbourne Cricket
Ground, Newlands, Eden Gardens and Lord’s are just some of the grounds
that players like Kumar Sangakkara and Ross Taylor would have played
imaginary game after game in, scoring century after century.
Pic (Right): USACA CEO Don
Lockerbie, Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori and Lauderhill Mayor
Richard Kaplan at the press conference on Thursday
However, it’s doubtful that any of these players ever thought they
would one day play a competitive fixture in the United States of
America. But that will be the case on Saturday when The Pearls Cup
commences at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida,
as New Zealand and Sri Lanka create history by becoming the first ICC
Full-Member nations to play an international match on American soil.
“There was a lot of talk from the ICC and various other cricket
authorities trying to break into the US market and trying to introduce
cricket here,” said Kumar Sangakkara, captain of Sri Lanka, on Thursday
afternoon before his squad took to the stadium outfield for training.
“This has been a first time experience for me. I’ve loved every minute
of it. Florida’s a great place to come to and I believe play sport or
just live so it’s been a great experience for everyone in the team to
be a part of this.”
 One
of the main goals of this initiative is to bring greater awareness to
the game. New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor knows it won’t happen
overnight, but believes that every little bit of exposure helps and
that within a few years time, positive results will be achieved from
getting more people to see and learn about the game in an untapped
American market that exists both within and beyond expat communities.
Pic (Left): Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara receives a gift
on behalf of USACA from Ahmed Jeddy, USACA Central West Board Member
“Well I guess there’s a lot of expats here in America,” said Taylor.
“There’s a lot of Indians and Pakistanis who all love and follow
cricket so hopefully we can give them something that they’ve probably
been missing for the whole time they’ve been here in the States. But
not only that, people we talk to don’t know a lot about cricket and
hopefully if we can come over here and… we don’t expect to convert
millions and millions of people, but if we can get a few people to
start watching cricket, you never know. In four or five years time
hopefully the profile of the game is a lot better than it is at the
moment.”
“We’re gonna try and put on a good show first and foremost, try and
captivate some uncertain audiences at the moment, try and captivate
them, try and express to them what cricket’s about and show them a game
that we all fell in love with,” said New Zealand batsman Brendon
McCullum. “Hopefully we can get some fans who will support us from afar
and who may even try and increase the numbers of people who are playing
cricket here in the States. One day I envision, one day is to have
cricket as big as what baseball is over here. It’s a lofty dream, but
it’s gotta start somewhere so hopefully this weekend will hopefully be
a long way to beginning that.”
Interview at Training with Brendon McCullum from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
Aside from the cricket, the players have been acclimatizing themselves
to better known American sporting pursuits. New Zealand took part in
batting practice with the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium in Miami
on Monday night. During training on Thursday, Taylor could be seen
tossing around a pigskin football with several of his Kiwi mates.
Meanwhile, McCullum hasn’t wasted any opportunities hitting the links
with the amount of off time the team has had since their exit from the
ICC World Twenty20.
“I’ve played about six games of golf since I’ve been here so I’ve been pretty busy on the golf course so far,” said McCullum.
One sign that cricket is acclimatizing itself to fall in line with
those better known American sporting pursuits is the fact that ESPN
will be broadcasting The Pearls Cup. Not only will it be aired live on
the international family of ESPN networks such as ESPN Star Sports in
India, but more significantly in America on broadband channel ESPN3.
“If we have ESPN covering this tournament, then obviously a lot of
people will be watching this, a lot of Americans,” said Ahmed Jeddy,
USACA’s Central West Regional Representative on the Board of Directors.
“The local Americans, not the expat Americans but the local Americans
would watch this and that can help us give them the lead that this is
the sport that you need to start bringing into your mainstream so we
can develop youth of America to play cricket and Twenty20 is a great
platform for that.”
Interview at Training with Kumar Sangakkara from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
However, one of the major concerns of this event is whether or not it
will make any money for the parties involved. Previously, New Zealand
Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan has said that he does not anticipate the
event making a profit in its first year but was not overly concerned
about it because he hopes to maintain a long term partnership with
USACA. Nabeel Ahmed, USACA’s 1st Vice President, had a similar
assessment on Thursday.
“I think eventually we are looking forward to make this thing a
money-making thing,” said Ahmed, “but to begin with, we wanted to bring
something to a US cricket community which is the international game of
this caliber.”
USACA CEO Don Lockerbie remained optimistic on filling up the stadium
for The Pearls Cup Twenty20 fixtures and in an interview published
Thursday on blackcaps.co.nz, he stated that 5,000-8,000 people each day
would be a good crowd. According to the event organizers, ticket sales
have been picking up as the event has drawn nearer. It is also hoped
that walk-up sales at the stadium box office by the local West Indian
community on the day of the matches will help boost attendance figures.
For the people who are willing to make the effort to travel near or far
to see The Pearls Cup in person, they will be part of a truly historic
event, one that will hopefully be remembered for a long time. New
Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram is excited to be a part of the occasion.
“I’m quite happy and quite proud to be part of the first series which
will hopefully be the first stepping stone in helping cricket become a
bigger sport in America,” said Oram.
Pearls Cup Interview with Nabeel Ahmed from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
Pearls Cup Interview with Ahmed Jeddy from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
Sri Lanka Pearls Cup Press Conference with Kumar Sangakkara from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
New Zealand Pearls Cup Press Conference with Daniel Vettori from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
Interview at Training with Jacob Oram from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
Interview at Training with Ross Taylor from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
Interview at Training with Tillakeratne Dilshan from Peter Della Penna on Vimeo.
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DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Please help us popularize cricket in USA by becoming a fan of our Facebook page.
By Gokul Chakravarthy
 An eye opener during a trip to Trinidad for Mayor Richard J. Kaplan of the City of Lauderhill, Florida, in 2002 became a wakeup call for the then City Manager, Charles Faranda and has finally evolved into a dream-come-true for cricket in the USA.
"We are delighted to be able to host New Zealand and Sri Lanka in these historic matches," said Mayor Kaplan. "The City and County have invested resources into the Regional Park with exactly this type of event in mind."
In 2007, the world cricket map had a new pin, its first serious one, stuck on the South-eastern coast of the vast land mass that is the continental USA that teemed with immense potential. It wasn’t until the end of 2008 that the promise was fulfilled and the quintessential promise land now had an ICC-approved cricket stadium.
It has taken another 2 years, a failed attempt to bring the One Day International World Cup of 2007 to the USA, the popularity of an exciting new cricket format – Twenty20, a visionary CEO – Don Lockerbie, a historic agreement with a major Test-playing nation – New Zealand – and the support of another major Test-playing country – Sri Lanka – to bring back international cricket of the highest quality to the shores of USA.
The Central Broward County Regional Park, simply referred to as “Lauderhill” within the cricket circles in the USA, is just 2 days away from becoming the nth stadium to hold an international match in the modern cricket era.
What began in all earnest in 1844 as the first-ever international cricket match in the USA has found its rightful, if a bit delayed, culmination in this much-anticipated series between two of the best exponents of the Twenty20 format of cricket.
Keeping in line with the way a vast majority of the Caribbean cricket fans, many of whom live in and around the Lauderhill area, prefer to enjoy their cricket, plans are in the works to organize music and entertainment during and after these matches.
The weatherman had a hot and humid weekend in store for the cricket lovers and players in Lauderhill with a 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms. With both the T20I matches between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, scheduled during the day, the thunderstorms shouldn’t be as big a factor as they would have had the floodlights become essential, as in a night match. And with the Twenty20 format only requiring 3½ hours from start to finish, it shouldn’t be too difficult to wait out any such storms and still have full and well-fought matches.
Much has been said and written about the potency of this format when it comes to its various compelling aspects that might just do the trick when it comes to breaking into what has been an elusive market for cricket – the USA. When the Stanford T20 was conducted so close to the USA, on the Caribbean islands, with tremendous success and the dramatic, if one-sided, Finale was televised live in HD on ESPN all across USA, a tiny spark of hope flickered, soon to be extinguished by the strong, cold winds of change that saw the Stanford empire collapse.
A new spark has been kindled and from all accounts will indeed grow into a proud flame over the coming weekend (May 21-23, 2010).
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Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket May 19, 2010
 ESPN
and USA Cricket Association announced today a platform to showcase
exclusive, live coverage of the May 22 and 23 Twenty20 international
matches between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Lauderhill, Florida.
The matches will be shown exclusively in the US on ESPN3.com, ESPN's
live sports broadband network, giving fans a 24/7 online destination
that delivers more than 3,500 live, global sports events annually to
over 50 million homes.
These historic matches mark the first time two ICC members have ever
played on United States soil. ESPN and partner companies ESPN
International and ESS will broadcast the matches live in 88 countries
and territories around the work, including the UK, Africa, India,
Israel, the Middle East, the Asian Sub-Continent, and Oceania to an
estimated audience of over 100 million.
USA Cricket CEO Donald Lockerbie stated that with the ESPN family of
broadcast and media companies involved “the world will now see that the
USA is open for business as a serious cricketing nation. We are very
pleased to have arranged with ESPN a platform to broadcast the event
live from our stadium in Florida - so those fans not able to attend
will watch on ESPN3 in America and on televisions world wide.
 "We
are looking to show the world that the United States is ready for all
the ICC full members to come to our country and play before their
diaspora community and fans - a population of approximately 15 million
hungry to see cricket played in the US.”
Televised for the first time ever in the United States, ESPN3.com has
brought a powerful broadcast team together, led by 2009 ICC Cricket
Hall of Fame inductee and former Australia captain, Ian Chappell. Over
the course of his career Chappell created and sustained a reputation as
one of the greatest captains in the history of cricket.
Joining Chappell in the broadcast booth is the legendary Sunil Gavaskar
who held the world records for the most runs and most centuries (34
Test centuries) scored; Simon Doull, a former member of the New Zealand
cricket team who played in 32 Test matches and 42 one-day
internationals; and Mike Haysman - the former member of Leicestershire,
Northern Transvaal and South Australia who represented the Australian
XI in the South African rebel tours from 1985-1987.
Twenty20 is a form of cricket introduced in 2003 by the England and
Wales Cricket Board. It involves two teams, each has a single innings,
batting for a maximum of 20 “overs.” An over is a set of six
consecutive legal balls bowled in succession.
Although still an embryonic sport in the USA, cricket is the second
most popular sport in the world, only behind football (soccer). With
approximately 15-million cricket fans living in the USA the goal of the
strategic partnership between New Zealand Cricket and USA Cricket is to
generate awareness and establish a fan base and appetite for the sport.
The Central Broward Regional Park Cricket Stadium was built in 2007 and holds up to 20,000.
[From USACA and other sources]
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DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Please help us popularize cricket in USA by becoming a fan of our Facebook page.
By Gokul Chakravarthy
USACA’s ambitious, yet realistic, CEO, Don Lockerbie, had included in his blueprint for the development of US cricket, key pillars that were to connect the foundation of grassroots cricket to the lofty ceiling of the national team reaching ODI status. These pillars would be international matches hosted by the USA from time to time; serving to enthuse the existing vast expat cricket community while educating the average Americans about cricket and eventually entering their living room and backyards.
Cricket had shown signs of its presence over the past few years by an odd Seinfeld joke in an ad here or as a murder weapon in a popular TV detective series there or, for that matter when Discovery Channel’s “How it’s Made” featured cricket bats.
But as one of possibly the last bunch of popular sitcoms on a major network, “Rules of Engagement”, had an entire episode with cricket as one of its main themes, maybe cricket is beginning to get ensconced somewhere within the American psyche. When defeat in a duel of good old street cricket leads to the American lead actor in the series actually admitting to a South African Indian in as many words that “Cricket is a great sport,” it at once seems like a proud lesson in the sport and an unabashed product placement. The tagline of the recently concluded ICC WT20 2010 tournament, “Bring it”, was cleverly, if blatantly, thrust into the dialogue for good measure, making the whole thing appear a lot like a product placement. Nevertheless, the metaphor and timing of it all is not lost.
The last tango in Providence
The timing is impeccable, not only because of the aforementioned ICC WT20 (World Cup) but also because 2 of the biggest cricketing nations, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, who played in that World Cup, are now in the USA, preparing for a 2-match T20 International series against each other. As a matter of fact, the WT20 had been kicked off on April 29, 2010, with a battle between these two very teams.
And what a match it was!
The 2 teams met only once in that tournament but it was a memorable contest that set up heady expectations for the remainder of the contests. Everyone will remember Mike Hussey’s redefinition of the cameo in the Semi Final against Pakistan, but New Zealand’s tailenders had scored 22 in the last 9 balls to take them to a tense victory against Sri Lankans off the penultimate ball of the match. That was at a neutral venue as well – The Providence Stadium in Guyana.
  It was also a crucial match in that the regular stars with the ball for either team, Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka and Shane Bond for New Zealand, had not really made an impact in the match. Malinga, especially with his quirky action and normally well-controlled pace variations was off target in that match and Bond was taken heavy toll of by the Lankan top order. Both teams are known for their resilience in tournaments. New Zealand have been regular Semi Finalists at various international tournaments while Sri Lanka have also made it a habit to reach the final stages of such tournaments since they first won the ODI Cricket World Cup in 1996.
Head to head
(In 2010, the only T20Is played by Sri Lanka were all during the WT20 in the West Indies)
  The teams have similar resources, a similar approach to cricket and that reflects in their almost similar results. Sri Lanka might have more sparkle in their ranks, thanks to bigger stars, but that only adds to New Zealand’s skipper Daniel Vettori’s already impressive list of advantages when it comes to captaining his side and commanding their respect and demanding their best on the cricket field. Captaincy might well turn out to be the decisive factor in this duel.
To top it off, the results from the last 5 matches show that they each have the exact same form coming into this series.
 A look at all the teams in T20Is shows that any of the 9 Test playing teams or Zimbabwe are likely to score 153 runs in 20 overs. This is also the the par score for all T20Is. Based on that, Sri Lanka are likely to score a par+ score of 158 while New Zealand are likely to score a just about par score of 152.
On the surface, it seems like Sri Lanka has scored more runs than New Zealand, 18-16, which also gives Sri Lanka a higher Win/Loss ratio. But what those statistics don't reveal is the one alarming factor that New Zealand have tied 3 T20 matches.
Regardless, this clash of the earliest adopters of T20Is, New Zealand, and one of the latest entrants to the format, Sri Lanka, has all the makings of an instant classic within the context of USA’s cricketing history and the Broward County Regional Park will be set alight when the Black Caps go against the Lankan Lancers on Saturday, May 22, 2010.
(To be continued ...)
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Now, you can get all the USA Cricket updates via Facebook. Also follow us on Twitter via @dreamcricket
By Peter Della Penna
 Fresh
off a two-year ban from cricket at all levels by the ICC, Marlon
Samuels is one of four former West Indies Test players in a 13-man
Jamaica squad that will be playing USA in three matches this weekend at
the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. According to
a roster obtained from USACA, the other three players with Test match
experience who will be traveling to the Sunshine State are Wavell
Hinds, Carlton Baugh and Donovan Pagon while Shawn Findlay is another
player with international experience who made his ODI debut against
Australia in 2008.
Samuels was suspended by the ICC after a West Indies Cricket Board
inquiry into his association with a bookmaker in India during a West
Indies tour there in January of 2007 found that he had "received money,
benefit or other reward which could bring him or the game into
disrepute,” according to a BBC report from May of 2008. His suspension
ended on May 16 and he wasted no time by getting onto the pitch the
same day at Sabina Park in Kingston for his local club Melbourne in the
fifth round of the Jamaican SuperCricket League.
At 29 years of age, Samuels still has plenty of time to push his claims
to get back into the West Indies squad and will look to create a big
impression in front of an American audience that will include many
Jamaican supporters in Fort Lauderdale. Samuels has played 29 Tests and
107 ODIs so far, with two centuries in each format to his name.
Hinds was part of the West Indies team at the recent World Twenty20 in
the Caribbean, but could not retain his place in the squad that was
picked on Monday to play against the touring South Africans. Hinds
scored 5 coming in at number eight in a loss to Sri Lanka and then did
not face a ball after entering at number seven with three balls to go
in the first innings against India in his only action of the
tournament. The 34-year-old has played 45 Tests and 119 ODIs for the
West Indies, scoring five centuries apiece in those forms of the game
with a career high of 213 at the top of the order in the drawn first
Test against South Africa at Guyana in 2005.
Jamaica arrives in Florida almost six weeks after hosting the Jamaica
Cricket Festival, where they played one 50-over and one Twenty20
contest each against Associate countries Ireland and Canada. Jamaica
walloped Canada in both encounters, but after chasing down 230 against
Ireland in their 50-over matchup, they fell short by 3 runs to Ireland
in the Twenty20 contest.
Among some of the lesser known players, Danza Hyatt is in excellent
form for Jamaica. He scored 104 vs. Trinidad & Tobago at the end of
February to help seal Jamaica’s third straight championship in the West
Indies four-day domestic competition. Hyatt notched 102 vs. Ireland in
their 50-over fixture at the Jamaica Cricket Festival in April to lead
his side to victory by six wickets. Four days later in a Twenty20 match
against Canada, he scored 48 off 32 balls with 10 boundaries in
Jamaica’s 63-run win. Hyatt also had a pair of half-centuries in a
drawn three-day match against Ireland.
Jamaica is managed by former West Indies batsman Jimmy Adams and
coached by Junior Bennett. They are set to arrive on Thursday, a day
before they take on USA in a 50-over match beginning Friday at 10 a.m.
at the Central Broward Regional Park stadium. Saturday’s Twenty20 match
against USA is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start and will be followed at
3:30 p.m. by the first Twenty20 International on American soil between
New Zealand and Sri Lanka. On Sunday, New Zealand and Sri Lanka will
square off in another Twenty20 International at 12 p.m. followed by USA
and Jamaica once more for the final Twenty20 match of the weekend at 4
p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at the Central Broward Regional Park stadium
box office, Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com, or by
calling 1-800-745-3000.
Jamaica touring squad –
Tamar Lambert (captain), Carlton Baugh (wk), David Bernard, Nkrumah
Bonner, Bevon Brown, Shawn Findlay, Wavell Hinds, Danza Hyatt, Donovan
Pagon, Andrew Richardson, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Gavin
Wallace.
Manager Jimmy Adams & Coach Junior Bennett
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By Peter Della Penna
The schedule for the ICC Americas Division One Tournament in Bermuda
was released on Tuesday with the news that USA will begin its defense
of their 2008 championship with a 50-over match against Argentina on
May 28. This year’s event introduces a new format with a Twenty20
tournament following the 50-over round-robin competition.
“I thought that’s a great initiative because taking into consideration
we played the World Cup Qualifier Tournament in Dubai without any
Twenty20 experience, it’s a great initiative,” said USA captain Steve
Massiah. “It’s great because the Associate countries, especially
countries like us, we don’t play as much cricket as we’d like or that
will help us in our progress.”
The 50-over tournament will take place from May 28-June 3. USA will go
up against Canada on May 29 before their first rest day on May 30. USA
will take on Bahamas, the 2010 ICC Americas Division Two champion, on
May 31 before facing off with 2006 champion and host nation Bermuda on
June 1.
USA will then get another rest day on June 2 before four days of
intense cricket to finish off the tournament, something which will test
the fitness of the squad. On June 3, USA finishes off 50-over
round-robin play with a match against Cayman Islands.
“I’m very optimistic and I’m very hopeful,” said Massiah about USA’s
chances of repeating their 2008 victory. “We hope to defend our crown.
The addition of some new players, hopefully they can grab their
opportunity with both hands because some of our key players are
missing.”
USA will be heading to Bermuda with six uncapped players. Massiah hopes
that the matches against Jamaica this weekend will present an
opportunity for the newer players to gel and get used to playing with
the seasoned veterans.
“I basically do have a good idea of [Jamaica’s] players and they’re one
of the top teams in the Caribbean so it does pose a great challenge for
us and hopefully we can use this as preparation for our trip to
Bermuda. It’s a totally new squad and hopefully we can bond quickly and
become a good unit,” said Massiah. “It’s important to develop some
chemistry and make guys understand the roles they’re playing. It’s
important for them to understand their responsibilities. It’s important
for them to understand what it takes mentally at this level.”
One more addition to the USA squad that will take on Jamaica before
heading off to Florida is Steven Taylor. According to a USACA official,
the 16-year-old who was the youngest player at the 2010 ICC U-19 World
Cup in New Zealand will be available for both Twenty20 fixtures. Fellow
Florida resident Timroy Allen said by phone Tuesday night that he would
also be available against Jamaica for Saturday and Sunday only and not
Friday’s 50-over contest due to work commitments.
As for the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 competition, which begins
on June 4, the six teams have been split into two groups of three. USA
is paired in Group A with Argentina and Canada while Group B includes
Bermuda, Bahamas and Cayman Islands.
USA’s first Twenty20 match will be against Argentina on June 4 with a
matchup against Canada the following day. The last day of the event on
June 6 will see the semifinals and finals staged as well as a 5th/6th
place playoff for the bottom team in each group. The teams that make
the semifinals are guaranteed to play two games on the final day
barring inclement weather because there is a third place game scheduled
in addition to the championship match.
ICC Americas Division One Schedule (Courtesy of ICC Web Site)
50-Over Tournament
May 28
Bermuda vs. Bahamas
Argentina vs. USA
Canada vs. Cayman Islands
May 29
Canada vs. USA
Bermuda vs. Argentina
Cayman Islands vs. Bahamas
May 30 – Rest Day
May 31
Bermuda vs. Cayman Islands
Canada vs. Argentina
Bahamas vs. USA
June 1
Bermuda vs. USA
Bahamas vs. Canada
Argentina vs. Cayman Islands
June 2 – Rest Day
June 3
Bermuda vs. Canada
USA vs. Cayman Islands
Argentina vs. Bahamas
Twenty20 Tournament
June 4
Group A – USA vs. Argentina
Group B – Cayman Islands vs. Bahamas
June 5
Group B – Bermuda vs. Cayman Islands
Group A – Canada vs. USA
Group B – Bermuda vs. Bahamas
Group A – Canada vs. Argentina
June 6
5th vs. 6th Playoff (Group A 3rd place vs. Group B 3rd place)
1st Semifinal (Group A 1st place vs. Group B 2nd place)
2nd Semifinal (Group B 1st place vs. Group A 2nd place)
3rd vs. 4th Playoff (Loser of Semifinal 1 vs. Loser of Semifinal 2)
Final (Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2)
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