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By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)
For the second World Cricket League event in a row, USA has been
assigned to play the host nation in the first match of the tournament as
they face off against Malaysia at Bayuemas Oval on September 3 to kick
off 2012 ICC WCL Division Four according to an ICC press release.
The déjà vu continues on the tournament’s second day when USA takes on
Denmark, a match that will be held at Selangor Turf Club.
At
2011 ICC WCL Division Three, USA took on hosts Hong Kong and defeated
them easily by seven wickets only to stumble badly on day two of
tournament play against Denmark. USA dropped Denmark captain Michael
Pedersen three times on his way to 78 not out in a total of 193 for 6.
USA was at 84 for 2 chasing in the 16th over when a spectacular collapse
resulted in the team being bowled out for 163 in 39.5 overs. Aditya
Thyagarajan suffered a severely dislocated right knee in the match and
hasn’t played for USA since then while rehabbing the injury but
Thyagarajan was selected to return to the senior squad for next month’s
tour to Malaysia.
After a day off on September 5, USA returns to action at Kinrara
Oval, site of the 2008 ICC U-19 World Cup Final, when they matchup with
Tanzania on September 6. A day later, they return to the same venue to
face off against Nepal, a team that has become one of USA’s biggest
rivals outside of the Americas over the last several years. In their
most recent matchup, USA beat Nepal in a crucial showdown at 2010 ICC
WCL Division Four in Italy by 55 runs with Sushil Nadkarni scoring a
vital 64 not out in USA’s total of 203 for 8 before phenomenal spells by
Usman Shuja (3 for 17) and Muhammad Ghous (3 for 31) sealed the win for
USA.
After another rest day on September 8, USA returns to Bayuemas Oval
for the final match in group play when they face Singapore. USA lost to
Singapore by 99 runs the last time the two teams met, which was in 2010
at ICC WCL Division Five in Nepal. Left-arm spinner Jackie Manoj-Kumar
tormented USA on the day, wiping out the middle order to finish with 4
for 23 as USA was bowled out for 146, but USA won’t have to worry about
him in Malaysia as Manoj-Kumar is not in Singapore’s 14-man squad for
the event.
After the round-robin stage finishes on September 9, the teams will
be placed into a first place, third place and fifth place playoff on
September 10. The first place playoff will take place at Kinrara Oval,
the third place playoff at Selangor Turf Club and the fifth place
playoff at Bayuemas Oval. The top two teams in the tournament will be
promoted to 2013 ICC WCL Division Three, which takes place April 28-May 5
in Bermuda. The two promoted teams will join Bermuda, Italy, Oman and
Uganda in Division Three. The bottom two finishers at 2012 ICC WCL
Division Four will be relegated to ICC WCL Division Five.
USA’s squad is scheduled to depart the USA for Malaysia on August 26
and arrive on August 28 for six days of training and acclimatization
before the first match against Malaysia on September 3. It is currently
unknown if USA will have any warm-up matches in Malaysia prior to the
first match.
DreamCricket.com will provide live coverage of all of USA’s matches
at 2012 ICC WCL Division Four in Malaysia. Each match is scheduled to
begin at 10:30 a.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. EST and 7:30 p.m. PST the
previous day in America.