The opening day of the Americas Cup tournament saw the USA win narrowly over Cayman Islands, and Bermuda score a crushing victory over Argentina.
At the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, Ontario, Cayman Islands batted first and scored 137 for 50 overs, a relatively modest score for a 50-over match. Even this flattered the batting somewhat, since Extras (with 31) were testimony to the sloppy bowling performance of the USA. Only L. Cunningham (42) scored over 10 runs in the entire Cayman Islands batting order. W. Lewis (2/31) and N. Islam (3/32) were the most successful bowlers for the USA. For the USA, D. Wallace (28) and Rohan Alexander (16) made a promising start, with the first wicket falling at 49, but USA's batting collapsed inexplicably after that, as even the batsmen who had performed well on the England tour against superior opposition could not find their feet against decidedly mediocre bowling (which allowed 45 extras-- the top scorer for the USA). The USA did manage to eke out a one-wicket victory in 40 overs, by the closest of margins; with the score tied, the last man was caught out--but the bowler had bowled a no-ball! The USA will clearly have to do a lot better against sterner opposition (Canada and Bermuda) in the days to come.
The Bermuda vs. Argentina clash was a study in contrast. Bermuda, which had been promising everyone that they would walk away with the America's Cup. showed that their bite was at least as good as their bark. Fortified with the presence of Charlie Marshall who had performed creditably in the Senior Carbbean (Red Stripe) Tournament, they amassed 346 /8 off 50 overs (Charlie Marshall 164, Clay Smith 32, O Pitcher 43, H Bascombe 22*). In reply, Argentina managed 153/9 in 49 overs, with M. Cortbarria's unbeaten 32 and A. Ferguson's 27 providing the only resistance to the Bermuda attack. D. Pilgrim (3/30) , and M. Crane and H. Bascombe with 2 wickets apiece, were the best bowlers for Bermuda...but they too, were erratic in giving away 32 extras (tied for the highest score in the Argentinian innings!)
On the second day of the Americas Cup, rain affected play and resulted in the Duckworth -Lewis formulae being employed for the first time in the Champioships. Canada won the toss and elected to bat against the United States of America. Canada scored 251 for 8 wickets in 50 overs, with veteran Paul Prashad topscoring with 62 not out, Captain Joe Harris making 42 and John Davison adding 31 runs. In their turn at the crease, the United States were at a disappointing 71 runs for 5 wickets off 27.1 overs when the rains came in and mercifully stopped play. Sanjay Thuraisingam, 3 wickets for 30 runs off 7 overs, and George Codrington, 2 wickets for 8 runs off 7 overs, led the Canadian attack. Canada won the game by 70 runs on the Duckworth Lewis method.
In the second game at Maple Leaf Cricket Club on Tuesday, the Cayman Islands batting first, made the most of Argentina's friendly bowling and scored 206 runs for 9 wickets in their 50 overs. M Wight 42 and F Henry 31 top-scored for Cayman Islands. In their turn at the crease, Argentina was 79 for 4 wickets when rains cancelled any further play for the day.. Cayman Islands won the game by 30 runs (by the Duckworth Lewis system).
The third day of the Americas Tournament saw the USA idle, while the other teams played off their strengths and weaknesses.
Canada remained unbeaten with two victories in the tournament so far, its second win coming against hapless Argentina which had become the tournament's whipping boy. However, Argentina, scoring 158 for 9, put up a more spirited resistance this time, although Canada's atrocious bowling, which allowed 56 extras (more than one-third of Argentina's tally, and more than twice as many runs as Argentina's top scorer M.Siri with 27!), must be given its share of the credit. Canada had to work harder to win than it did against the USA, but (assisted by captain J. Harris's helpful 41) eked out a 5-wicket victory.
Bermuda, the other unbeaten team, was all out for only 105 runs against arguably the most accurate team bowling performance of the tournament, from Cayman Islands. Having taken out Bermuda's centurion C. Marshall for a duck, the Cayman Islanders might even have dreamed about an upset. But that was not to be, inspite of M.Wight's unbeaten 23; a match-saving all-around performance from Bermuda's Tucker, who top-scored with 37 and also took 5 wickets, saw them to victory as the Islanders collapsed for 73.
Facing Bermuda on the fourth day of the tournament, the USA lost its last chance of winning the Americas Cup, or indeed making the finals. The prospects must have looked good when Islam, one of the holdovers from the USA team that had successfully toured England in July, turned in a remarkable bowling performance of 6/33 in 10 overs. But Bermuda captain Charlie Marshall posted a sparkling 95 with 6 sixes and 6 fours, making him the highest scorer in the Tournament so far, and Bermuda managed a respectable 232 all out in 47.3 overs. In reply, Z. Amin and D. Wallace, also holdovers from the England tour, chipped in with 34 runs apiece for the USA. But batting again proved to be the Achilles Heel for the rest of the USA batsmen, and the USA could only muster a total of 149. This was a disappointing turn of events for a team that had hoped for a much better performance after its England tour, and the post-mortems will not be long in coming.
Canada, in the other match of the day, also fared rather badly against the Cayman Island attack. In a rain-shortened match, Canada could only manage 112 all out in 27 overs, its worst batting performance in the Americas Cup. Not to be outdone, the Cayman Islanders collapsed for 62, THEIR worst batting performance of the Americas Cup--and indeed, the lowest team total in the tournament so far. This took Canada off the hook, leaving it to face Bermuda for the top honours of the Americas Cup--and the Cayman Islanders with the consolation that they had, at least for a while, made the top teams suffer significant pangs of anxiety.
Saturday's match between Bermuda and Canada was the clash of the unbeatens, and therefore (more or less) the finals of the first America's Cup. Bermuda, batting first, showed once more that its batting firepower was limited when its "star", captain Charles Marshall, was taken out early. This he proceeded to do in this crucial match, being caught-and-bowled by Davison for 3. Opener Archer (59) and the two Tuckers (43 and 21), who had made some useful contributions along the way, added some substance to the Bermudan innings, but they closed with a modest 186, the honors being shared evenly between the Canadian bowlers Davis, Ifill and Harris in possibly the most accurate bowling performance of the tournament from Canada (only 13 extras). Encouraged by their bowlers' success and with the smell of victory in the air, the Canadians coasted to an unexpectedly easy 7-wicket victory with captain J. Harris adding a useful 60 and Ifill's unbeaten 78 making him the unofficial "man-of-the match" with his superb all-around performance. To be sure, this was the Canadian's home ground, and they have always been formidable performers here, but this was a decisive victory that the Canadians had every reason to cherish.
The other match on the final day, between USA and Argentina, was something of an anti-climax but did allow both teams to salvage some satisfaction out of the tournament. USA, batting first, scored 243 all out ( R Denny 84, S Sookram 35, S Reid 24, N Islam 40*), its most respectable batting performance of the tournament. Although conceding a hat-trick to Nirosh Desilva of the USA, Argentina fought back well, with some of THEIR best batting in the America's Cup--M Paterlini scoring 63, C Kirschbaum 37, and A Perez Rivero 34, for a total of 202. The USA won the runfest by 41 runs, making its tally 2 wins and 2 losses for the tournament.
The final standings showed Canada and Bermuda as #1 and #2 respectively, with the USA squarely in the middle. At the bottom of the rankings were Cayman Islands and Argentina-- both with some good performances to their credit in their first international foray, the Islanders being especially unlucky not to have won against the USA, and giving both finalists some very anxious moments which the Islanders failed to capitalize on. All in all, As Canada Cricket Association president Geoff Edwards put it in his closing remarks, a good inaugural tournament-- with the prizes going to the countries with the most international cricket experience, but with more than a hint of future promise among the also-rans.
