Coolidge Cricket Ground (Bahamas won toss): Bermuda beat Bahamas by 140 runs

Kamau Leverock, the Bermuda captain, hailed the island’s crushing 140-run defeat of Bahamas at the ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier in Antigua today.

Dashing half-centuries from Tre Manders (84), Allan Douglas Jr (74) and Delray Rawlins (50) powered Bermuda to their highest T20 international total of 239 for six after being sent in to bat at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.

Seamers Malachi Jones (two for nine), Kyle Hodsoll (two for 19) and off spinner Rodney Trott (two for 21) then led the island’s attack as Bahamas were restricted to 99 for eight in reply.

“Today was about winning, more or less winning big,” Leverock said. “We just wanted to make sure we got on the board and winning big was just a bonus.”

Manders’s maiden T20 international half-century earned him the player-of-the-match award.

“It felt good to get that,” he said. “It’s not just about me, though, it’s about the team and how we played today. We have to focus.

“We have a goal to make the next stage, and that’s what we want to do.”

Bermuda made the perfect response to get their campaign on track having suffered a 23-run defeat by the United States in their tournament opener two days earlier at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

Gregory Taylor’s decision to send Bermuda to bat backfired as the top three ruthlessly put the Bahamas attack to the proverbial sword.

Manders and Douglas added 135 for the first wicket in 11.1 overs to set the tone for the innings.

Douglas raced to a fifty off 30 balls with a six down the ground off leg spinner Jagnauth Jagroo in the ninth over after being put down in the covers off the last ball of the powerplay.

Manders achieved the milestone two overs later off 28 balls after scampering through for two runs off seamer Marlon Graham.

The fruitful partnership, which all but won the match for Bermuda, was finally broken when Douglas was bowled by the off spin of Kervon Hinds when seemingly destined for a hundred.

However, Bahamas’s joy was short-lived as Rawlins tore their attack to shreds with some aggressive hitting.

The Sussex all-rounder smashed six sixes and two fours in a belligerent knock of 50 from just 20 balls as he and Manders added 85 for the second wicket in six overs.

Bermuda suffered a mini-collapse towards the end of the innings as five wickets fell for 15 runs inside three overs, including both Manders and Rawlins.

Taylor, who started the match as wicketkeeper, claimed three for 27 with his left-arm seam after bringing himself into the attack at the start of the sixteenth over to lead the Bahamas attack.

With an asking rate of 12 per over, Bahamas never got going at the crease and were wobbling at 22 for three at the end of the powerplay.

Wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals thereafter as Bermuda’s bowlers tightened the noose.

In the end, Bahamas fell well short with Hinds (40) and Orlando Stewart (12) their only batsmen managing double figures against a tidy and disciplined Bermuda attack.

Bermuda made two changes to their squad form the one that lost against the United States with Hodsoll and Zeko Burgess coming in for Dominic Sabir and Macai Simmons.

“Both of them that came into the side today bowled extremely well,” Leverock added.

“Zeko [one for 12] has a lot of pace and Kyle has a lot of variation and swings the ball quite nicely, so I think those guys came up to the task.”

Bermuda will face Canada tomorrow at the same ground starting at 9am in what may be a shoot-out for the second qualifying place after the United States pulled off an incredible victory in a Super Over.

SCOREBOARD

Bermuda

A Douglas Jr b Hinds 74

T Manders c M Taylor b G Taylor 84

D Rawlins c Jagroo b Mitchell 50

*K Leverock b G Taylor 0

Onias Bascome b Mitchell 9

M Jones not out 1

Z Burgess b G Taylor 4

D Stovell not out 0

Extras (b 5, lb 1, nb 5, w 6) 17

Total (8 wkts, 20 overs) 239

†Okera Bascome, R Trott and Z Burgess did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-135, 2-220, 3-220, 4-222, 5-230, 6-235.

Bowling: Mitchell 4-0-48-2; Graham 4-0-0-39; Hinds 4-0-33-1; Goud 1-0-16-0; Jagroo 2-0-31-0; M Taylor 1-0-17-0; Barry 1-0-22-0; G Taylor 3-0-27-3.

Bahamas

M Taylor c Stovell b Hodsoll 1

J Jagroo c Hodsoll b Jones 7

M Graham c Okera Bascome b Burgess 6

*†G Taylor b Leverock 8

J Barry lbw b Trott 7

K Hinds c Rawlins b Hodsoll 40

O Stewart c Okera Bascome b Trott 12

E Haven c Douglas b Jones 6

S Goud not out 8

R Mitchell not out 0

Extras (lb 3, w 1) 4

Total (8 wkts, 20 overs) 99

B Jagroo did not bat

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-8, 3-22, 4-25, 5-36, 6-56, 7-89, 8-91

Bowling: Jones 4-0-9-2; Hodsoll 3-0-19-2; Leverock 3-0-15-1; Burgess 3-0-12-1; Rawlins 3-0-20-0; Trott 4-0-21-2.

Umpires: L Reifer and E Carrington.

Third umpire: H Grewal.

Other matches

Coolidge Cricket Ground (Canada won toss): Canada 142-5 (20 overs; N Dhaliwal 44, R Singh 44); United States 142-7 (20 overs; J Malhotra 35, K Gore 31; S Nazar 3 for 19). Match tied. United States (2pts) beat Canada (0) on a Super Over.

Sir Vivian Richards Stadium (Argentina won toss): Argentina 156-6 (20 overs; R Escobar 55; A Ahir 4 for 26); Panama 111-9 (20 overs; K Ahir 32 not out; H Fennell 6 for 18). Argentina (2pts) beat Panama (0) by 45 runs.

Sir Vivian Richards Stadium (Argentina won toss): Argentina 171-4 (20 overs; A Ferguson 86 not out, R Escobar 41 not out); Belize 112 (18.5 overs; H Fennell 3 for 20). Argentina (2pts) beat Belize (0) by 59 runs.

P W L NR Pts

United States 4 4 0 0 8 3.2391

Canada 3 2 1 0 4 4.4500

Argentina 3 2 1 0 4 1.5333

Bermuda 2 1 1 0 2 2.9250

Bahamas 3 1 2 0 2 -4.1667

Belize 4 1 3 0 2 -4.2886

Panama 3 0 3 0 0 -2.3743