Royal Selangor Club, Kuala Lumpur (Denmark won toss): Denmark (2pts) beat Bermuda by eight wickets

After the most promising of starts, Bermuda slumped to a crushing, eight-wicket defeat by Denmark today in their opening match of the ICC World Cricket League Division Four tournament in Malaysia. But the truly sensational prologue to events at the Royal Selangor Club, in Kuala Lumpur, came 24 hours earlier and led to Kamau Leverock being dropped.

The star batting all-rounder, who was the sensation of the previous Division Four tournament two years ago in Los Angeles, unleashed a reported expletive-laden outburst in training the day before and was presumably left out as a result.

No one from the Bermuda tour party was prepared to comment this morning on the incident or how long Leverock might be stood down, but ESPNcricinfo reporter Peter Della Penna was not too far from the scene at Kinrara Oval and had this to tweet yesterday:

“Young Bermuda allrounder Kamau Leverock is throwing a mini-tantrum at Kinrara Oval training session. Just stormed out of the nets, knocked over a box of bottled water, took off his boots, chucked his Bermuda hat on the ground while unleashing some F-bombs. Unclear what sparked it.”

He added: “Leverock briefly went back for a batting net after bowling, but has stormed off again after three balls, unleashing another F-bomb tirade while heaving his helmet into the pavilion chair back seats and chucking his bat on the ground. Hopefully he saves some energy for tomorrow.”

While Leverock’s absence was ultimately felt in the match, it did not appear that way at the start when Okera Bascome was flaying the Denmark bowlers all over the park.

Bascome picked up the pinch-hitting mantle from his axed partner, hitting six fours and four sixes in a blistering knock of 63 from only 41 balls.

Captain Terryn Fray, who had contributed only ten when Bascome fell in the twelfth over with the score 81, went on to labour for 81 balls over 32 before he was second out.

Then the wheels came off the Bermuda innings.

Including Fray, the collapse read six for 21 from 134 for one, taking in the star names of vice-captain Dion Stovell for a three-ball duck, Janeiro Tucker for one, Stephen Outerbridge run out for four and Steven Bremar caught behind first ball.

Through the carnage, Tre Manders scored at a good lick to reach 40 from 56 balls before late fireworks from Charles Trott helped Bermuda to reach a total they might defend.

Trott, in at No 8, hit four fours and a six in his 36 from 45 balls — he was the last of the four players to reach double figures.

Denmark’s left-arm slow bowler Bashir Shah claimed three for 17 from ten overs.

The Danes, who beat Bermuda in the third-place play-off in Los Angeles after losing in the round-robin match, were rarely troubled in their chase. The only period of respite for Bermuda came when the teams were required to go off the pitch for rain before 20 overs had been completed and the match made official. But it was only a short break, and when they returned wicketkeeper-batsman Freddie Klokker dominated to hit the first century of the tournament.

He and Zameer Khan put on 89 for the first wicket in 19.3 overs, Khan falling for 38 to the third ball bowled by Jacobi Robinson.

The off spinner made it two in two overs when he snapped up Shangeev Thanikaithasan for three, but from that point Bermuda were batted out of the game.

Klokker strode to an unbeaten 108 from 130 balls, with eight fours and a six, while captain Hamid Shah scored 48 not out in a stand worth 115.

Robinson, who is reported to have mixed rank offering with the only balls that troubled the Denmark batsmen, finished with two for 40 from his ten overs.

A compact tournament that is to be played in the space of eight days means there is no time for Bermuda to be feeling sorry for themselves after being described as listless in the field and toothless with the ball.

Clay Smith’s men are straight back at it tomorrow with a match against Uganda that is made more significant for the tournament favourites having lost to Malaysia in a big upset.

A nine-run win for the host nation was ended in controversial circumstances when the run-out decision for the final wicket was found to be errant.

In the other game, Jersey made easy work of Vanuatu, bowling out the Pacific Islands team for 104 and chasing down the total with almost 19 overs unused and three wickets down.

They are the early leaders, with Bermuda in the relegation positions on net run-rate.

SCOREBOARD

Bermuda

†O Bascome lbw b Ahmad 63

*T S Fray c Klokker b B Shah 32

T Manders c Thanikaithasan b Ahmad 40

D C Stovell lbw b B Shah 0

J J Tucker lbw b Thanikaithasan 1

S D Outerbridge run out 4

S Bremar c Klokker b B Shah 0

C Trott b Bulow 36

R J Robinson b Javed 8

K S James not out 8

C Outerbridge run out 3

Extras (lb 3, w 11) 14

Total (47.5 overs) 209

Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-134, 3-134, 4-135, 5-151, 6-152, 7-155, 8-198, 9-198.

Bowling: Javed 6-0-42-1; Bulow 4.5-0-28-1; Ahmad 10-2-41-2; Henriksen 3-0-17-0; B Shah 10-3-17-3; H A M Shah 4-0-22-0; Thanikaithasan 10-0-39-1.

Denmark

Zameer Khan c Fray b Robinson 38

†F A Klokker not out 108

S Thanikaithasan c Manders b Robinson 3

*H A M Shah not out 48

Extras (lb 5, nb 1, w 9) 15

Total (2 wkts, 41.5 overs) 212

S A Ahmad, A Bulow, M S Henriksen, A Uddin, R Mahmood, B Shah and R B Javed did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-89, 2-97.

Bowling: C Outerbridge 63.5-0-42-0; Stovell 7-0-31-0; Tucker 8-0-33-0; James 6-0-34-0; Robinson 10-0-43-2; Trott 4-0-24-0.

Other matches

Kinrara Oval (Malaysia won toss): Malaysia 208 (49.3 overs; Suhan Alagaratnam 61, Ahmed Faiz 50; Riazat Ali Shah 4 for 24); Uganda 199 (49.1 overs; Muhamad Syahadat 4 for 21). Malaysia (2pts) bt Uganda by nine runs.

UKM-YSD Cricket Oval, Bangi (Jersey won toss): Vanuatu 104 (36 overs; B D H Stevens 4 for 12); Jersey 105-3 (31.1 overs). Jersey (2pts) beat Vanuatu by seven wickets.