Good morning cricket fans. Peter Della Penna here in the media center at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. This facility is so far in the middle of nowhere that it's the kind of place you'd expect an meteorite to fall out of the sky and land a few feet away.  USA will be squaring off with Italy shortly. USA is currently 0-1 after yesterday's four-wicket loss to Uganda while Italy thrashed Oman by 9 wickets.

I don't anticipate any changes to the starting XI, but we'll find out for sure in 10-15 minutes after the toss.

 Italy won the toss and has elected to bat. Forget what I said about USA's lineup. Ryan Corns has a groin injury and is out today. Nauman Mustafa has been dropped and Stephen Taylor will be keeping wicket. Abhimanyu Rajp is making his debut for USA and Gowkaran Roopnarine is the other player making his first appearance in the tournament.

USA XI: Nadkarni (captain), Taylor (wk), Mishra, Baker, Roopnarine, Bhatti, Hutchinson, Shuja, Khan, Rajp, Ghous. 

Italy XI: Bonora (captain), Patrizi (wk), Berg, Crowley, Munasinghe, Di Venuto, Northcote, Pennazza, Petricola, Jayasena, Sandri. 

 

Peter - how was Nauman's keeping on day one? It's odd to drop your first-choice keeper once you've picked him as such in the squad, in favour of a currently misfiring batsman. I guess they're hoping we get some Taylor fireworks Good move to bring Rajp in.

 Andy Northcote and Michael Di Venuto to open for Italy. Usman Shuja opening the bowling for USA from the Desert End, right arm fast medium over the stumps to Di Venuto, left hand bat. One slip in place. Again, Taylor is keeping today for USA. FOUR! Short and wide first ball, Di Venuto effortlessly cuts that in front of point. Dot, good length ball defended to mid on. Dot, full and defended to cover. Dot, good length ball nudged toward cover, Di Venuto set off and was sent back, Mishra had a shy at the stumps but missed, would have been tight. Single, fullish outside off, pushed past extra cover to mid off. Northcote takes guard, right hand bat. Dot, good length ball left outside off. Italy 5/0 in 1.

Hopefully they will change the batting line up and get some of the guns like Hutchinson in earlier

Peter, can you please type ball # as well...1.1, 1.2 etc ahead of the commentary. makes ir easy to read.

 Important first wicket down!

 RE: Rohan's question.Mustafa's keeping was very average yesterday. 6 byes, and four of the leg byes of the seven total were his fault on a ball that should have been stopped.

Muhammad Ghous to open from the Media End, over the stumps off spin to Di Venuto. Dot, full and clipped to square leg. Single, full and driven to long on. Deep midwicket is the other man outside the circle. Dot, full outside off, driven to extra cover. Dot, full and driven to Ghous. OUT! OUT! RUN OUT! DI VENUTO RUN OUT! HUGGGGEEEE!!! It was a good length ball outside off guided behind point. Di Venuto made a dicey call from the non-striker's end. Shuja circled around to field from point and fired to Taylor over the stumps. Di Venuto was a yard and a half short. Di Venuto run out for 6. Italy 6/1 in 1.5 overs. Peter Petricola the new man in, left handed. Dot, good length ball pushed to point. Italy 6/1 in 2.

again, no new yorker??? Where is A. mohammed?

 Shuja to Northcote. Dot, good length left outside off. FOUR! Short and wide, cut behind point, Roopnarine gives chase from third man and can't get there and as he's chasing it down pulls up lame. He's down and over the rope. Not getting up. Looks to be a hamstring. Andy Mohammed coming on as a sub fielder. Three, full and driven straight down the ground, diving stop by Baker at the rope saves a boundary. Dot, full and driven to Shuja. Dot, good length ball driven to cover. Single, good length ball pushed to midwicket, throw at the stumps by Bhatti at the non-striker's end hits and the ricochet allows for a run. Italy 14/1 in 3.

big wkt by ghous

 Ghous to Petricola. Dot, full and pushed to Ghous. Single, full and clipped to midwicket. Single, full and pushed to midwicket. OUT! Petricola tried using his feet for the first time to Ghous and didn't get to the pitch of the ball. Tried to flick through midwicket and missed badly, clean bowled. Another big scalp for USA. Petricola out for 2, Italy 16/2 in 3.4 overs. Gareth Berg the new man in, right hand bat. Dot, full and driven to midwicket. Dot, full and driven to cover. Italy 16/2 in 4.

awesome bowled Ghous!!!!

ncalcricket@gmail.com:

big wkt by ghous

guys don't jump in reporting the wickets. it's not clever and it's not respectful

 Elmore Hutchinson comes on for Shuja from the Desert End, left arm fast medium to Northcote over the stumps. Slip is out in the off side now. Wide, full and well outside off. Dot, full and wide, but within the guidance lines for the umpire to leave arms at his side. FOUR! Short on the stumps, pulled crisply over midwicket. USA bowled poor lengths yesterday, can't afford freebies like that. Deep midwicket now in place for Northcote. Dot, good length ball on the stumps hits Northcote high on the pads, LBW shout denied. Single, full and wide, guided to third man. Dot, good length ball defended to short extra cover. FOUR! Full outside off, driven uppishly but wide of short extra cover and beats mid off to the rope. Italy 26/2 in 5.