Canada U-17s 180 Bermuda U-17s 130 Allrounder Ajay Minhas excelled with both the bat and ball as the Canadian Under-17 team picked up the first win on their Bermuda tour yesterday at Wellington Oval.

The Canada total of 180, of which Minhas contributed 56 with five fours in 88 minutes from 83 balls, proved too much for the Bermuda youngsters as they went down by 50 runs.

Despite an opening stand of 51 in 15 overs, tight bowling made runs difficult to come by later in the innings as Canada forced the Bermuda batsmen to work hard, with the required run rate creeping up to five an over in the last 20 overs.

Minhas was also the pick of the Canada bowlers, claiming three for 16 from 10 overs of tight wrist spin. He removed opener Chris Foggo for a top score of 22 when he held a return chance in his second over and then also got the other opener Jekon Edness for 22 and O.J.Pitcher for 11 to make it 98-5 in the 35th over.

Foggo and Edness brought up the 50 by the 15th over before the hour-long stand was finally broken when Foggo departed. The early loss of Landro Minors for seven five overs later proved a blow for Bermuda. He was smartly stumped by captain Ashish Bagai off left-arm medium pacer Chris Argunen as he dragged his back foot forward in playing a defensive shot outside the off-stump.

Edness' 95-minute stay finally ended when he was caught off Minhas to make it 73-3, which then became 82-4 and 98-5 as the local youngsters struggled against tight spin bowling.

After O.J.Pitcher lasted 52 minutes and Delyone Borden 59 minutes for his 17, few other batsmen offered much resistence as the tail wagged little. Dion Stovell looked confident and positive in the 15 minutes he was at the crease but after he was bowled for six to make it 126-7, Vadesh Seepersad came back for a second spell and claimed three wickets in his first over back to end the match.

Seepersad finished with three for 19 from six overs while Harindra Chandrasena had two for 14 and Chris Argunen one for 23 off 10 overs. Opening bowler Nathan Richards looked promising in his 10 overs, though he failed to take a wicket, conceding 34 runs.

Richards had earlier scored 16 valuable runs as he and Minhas added 44 for the sixth wicket in taking the score from 115 to 159 before the bottom fell out of the Canada innings with the last five wickets going down for 21 runs as number six bat Minhas was last out.

Next high man for Canada was Bagai who hit five fours and a six in his 36. The captain put on 65 for the second wicket with Aneel Nauth (24) after Bermuda had an early breakthrough when Nasir Wade trapped Gibran Rahaman lbw in the sixth over with just eight runs on the board.

Shane Hollis and Mackie Crane were the pick of the Bermuda bowlers, Hollis taking three for 30 from 10 overs and Crane three for 38 off 10. Jim West gave up just eight runs in five overs with the new ball while Wade had one for 20 off seven.

With a loss and a win under their belts, Canada play their third match of the five-match tour today at Lord's against a West Select starting at 11.00 a.m.

Two for the future: Bermuda youth and senior team players OJ Pitcher (top) and Mackie Crane.