UKM-YSD Cricket Oval, Bangi (Bermuda won toss): Uganda (2pts) beat Bermuda by 189 runs

Bermuda have been left facing relegation to the pits of international cricket after a lamentable performance yesterday led to a 189-run defeat whose ramifications are as punitive as they are wide-ranging.

Starting with the highly questionable decision to field first on a wearing pitch upon winning the toss, Bermuda were not at the races in their second match in the ICC World Cricket League Division Four tournament.

Bowled out for 60 in response to Uganda’s meritorious 249 for five, and also taking into consideration the continued enforced absence of Kamau Leverock for disciplinary reasons, this tour is quickly descending towards the “Tour from Hell” status that stamped previous senior ICC tournament visits to Malaysia in 1997 and 2014.

The playing surface in Bangi has proved to be a spinners’ paradise in its early days as an international venue. Uganda got the memo and gave their spinners the new ball. That plus Bermuda’s historical issues with spin, on a surface whose cracks had widened from 50 overs of Uganda batting, all pointed to a certain inevitability.

Mohammed Irfan — no, not the giant 7ft Pakistan fast bowler but an off spinner of modest height — returned career-best figures of six for 23 as Bermuda were hustled out inside 22 overs.

Irfan’s off-spinning partner, Frank Nsubuga, claimed two for 27 from his ten overs to leave Bermuda 51 for eight after 20 — the match’s result long determined.

Charles Trott, again batting at No 8 in an unchanged Bermuda XI, was the top scorer with 17.

Forced out into the middle in only the eleventh over with the score 21 for six, it is entirely possible that the top order needs to take a leaf out of Trott’s book, given that a majority of his 34-ball stay would have taken in the spinning new-ball pair.

The only other Bermuda batsman in double figures was Dion Stovell with ten, before falling to Uganda’s third spinner, Henry Ssenyondo, a slow left-armer.

The East African nation bowled only four balls of seam-up, Brian Masaba concluding the one-sided affair when he bowled Cejay Outerbridge.

Earlier, opener Roger Mukasa won the match off his own bat with a solid 97 from 135 balls that included only six fours. He fell shy of becoming the second batsman to hit Bermuda for a hundred when he was run out by Steven Bremar.

By then, though, most of the damage had been done, Uganda learning their lesson from the day before when they so misjudged the chase against Malaysia with a cavalier approach to the early innings.

Here, they batted with circumspection, taking only 17 off the first seven overs from Outerbridge and Stovell before the pair combined — caught Outerbridge, bowled Stovell — to remove Simon Sesazi for three.

From that point, it was all Uganda.

Mukasa and Hamu Kayondo put on 137 for the second wicket in 29.3 overs to provide the platform for the inevitable late assault.

After Kayondo fell for 55 from 95 balls with two fours, Irfan hit 25 off 21 and Riazat Ali Shah 33 off 17 to reflect Uganda’s willingness to cash in on a studious beginning.

Outerbridge was Bermuda’s most successful bowler with two for 46, but Stovell was the best, his one for 19 from ten overs of off spin underlining the requirements for this particular surface.

The road gets no easier for Bermuda, as tomorrow they face an impressive Jersey outfit who already have bad blood with coach Clay Smith’s squad from the Mankading incident in Los Angeles two years ago.

Their prime motivation, though, should come from the rain-affected defeat by Denmark yesterday.

Set initially a challenging target of 239, Denmark started well at 79 without loss in the seventeenth over before a lengthy weather interruption.

Upon their return, Duckworth/Lewis calculations amended their target to 114 from 23 overs. With Freddie Klokker again leading the way, after his unbeaten hundred against Bermuda, they won by seven wickets with seven balls to spare.

The remaining game brought a second victory for hosts Malaysia, who beat Vanuatu by 23 runs after being restricted to 196.

SCOREBOARD

Uganda

*R G Mukasa run out 97

S Sesazi c C Outerbridge b Stovell 3

H B Kayondo c S D Outerbridge b Trott 55

Mohammed Irfan c Bremar b C Outerbridge 25

Riazat Ali Shah b C Outerbridge 33

D Muhumuza not out 11

K Waiswa not out 4

Extras (b 5, lb 6, nb 2, w 8) 21

Total (5 wkts, 50 overs) 249

†F Achelam, F Nsubuga, B Masaba and H Ssenyondo did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-155, 3-193, 4-216, 5-238.

Bowling: C Outerbridge 10-0-46-2; Stovell 10-2-19-1; Trott 10-0-55-1; James 6-0-32-0; Tucker 7-0-49-0; Robinson 7-0-37-0.

Bermuda

†O Bascome c Achelam b Mohammed Irfan 6

*T S Fray lbw b Mohammed Irfan 1

T Manders b Nsubuga 1

J J Tucker lbw b Nsubuga 1

S D Outerbridge b Mohammed Irfan 6

D C Stovell c Sesazi b Mohammed Irfan 10

S Bremar c Ssenyondo b Mohammed Irfan 1

C Trott lbw b Ssenyondo 17

R J Robinson st Achelam b Mohammed Irfan 4

K S James not out 7

C Outerbridge b Masaba 2

Extras (b 1, nb 1, w 2) 4

Total (21.4 overs) 60

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-8, 3-10, 4-16, 5-19, 6-21, 7-39, 8-50, 9-51.

Bowling: Mohammed Irfan 10-4-23-6; Nsubuga 10-1-27-2; Ssenyondo 1-0-7-1; Masaba 0.4-0-2-1.

Other matches

Royal Selangor Club (Denmark won toss): Jersey 238-6 (50 overs; N A T Watkins 86, B D H Stevens 69); Denmark 114-3 (21.5 overs). Denmark (2pts), with target reduced to 114 in 23 overs, beat Jersey by seven wickets on Duckworth-Lewis method.

Kinrara Oval (Vanuatu won toss): Malaysia 196 (43.5 overs; Ahmed Faiz 86); Vanuatu 173 (49.3 overs). Malaysia (2pts) beat Vanuatu by 23 runs.