North Field (Bermuda won toss): Bermuda (2pts) beat Cayman Islands (0) by 53 runs

Left arm spinner Derrick Brangman took his maiden five-wicket haul in T20 internationals yesterday as he helped Bermuda to overcome a scare against Cayman Islands and move within three games of the World Cup.

It had looked plain sailing for the home favourites after they won the toss, with Kamau Leverock playing a swashbuckling innings to reach 98, off 59 balls, before he was caught by Conroy Wright as he attempted to reach his century in style.

With Tre Manders, Terryn Fray, Delray Rawlins and Dominic Sabir all failing to make double figures, it was left to Allan Douglas Jr to provide a sparkling cameo as he made 43, from 24 balls, to help Bermuda reach 176 for six from their 20 overs.

Leverock was twice dropped by the Cayman fielders and he made his luck count, as he fell just two runs short of what would have been his second T20I century.

In response, Cayman Islands lost a quick wicket when Patrick Heron was bowled by a sensational delivery from Leverock, Bermuda’s player of the tournament so far.

That brought Cayman captain Ramon Sealy to the crease and he proceeded to hammer Bermuda’s spinners to all parts of the ground, making a rapid half-century and steering his team to 110 for two in 13 overs to give them a sniff of an unlikely victory.

Sealey and opener Akshay Reddy Naidoo put up 108 runs for the second wicket but when the Cayman captain skied a Sabir ball into the air for Rawlins to take an easy catch, it all fell apart. It was a catastrophic collapse from Cayman who lost their next six wickets for just 11 runs

It was Derrick Brangman who did the damage, taking a career-best five for 19 from his four overs to become the tournament’s joint-leading wicket-taker with Canada pace bowler Kadeem Sana, as Cayman finished on 123 for eight.

Brangman, 36, who picked up the man-of-the-match award, was delighted with his performance and relieved to finally get his five-wicket haul after missing out on that milestone in Argentina early this year.

“We’re working hard for this,’’ Brangman said. “I got four in Argentina so I made sure I got five this tournament. That’s my job, I’m the guy that breaks up the partnerships but Sabir was the guy today to get the big man out. I just came in and piggybacked off him and got five.

“It was really good for the team and good motivation for the next game against Panama. Hopefully we’ll be back tomorrow and we can put some legs on Panama and then we have the last two games but we’re looking forward to the Saturday game.

“There was never a scare, that’s just how cricket is. You always get someone stuck in the middle but we stuck together, put on pressure and hoped they gave up a chance, and that’s what happened.”

Photo gallery

Rawlins cut a calm figure in his post-match interview and felt his team always had enough in hand despite Sealy’s big hitting.

“I wouldn’t say it’s relief,” he said.

“We got our skills wrong for a little while but it was nice to bring it back. Cayman are a dangerous team with different players but we have confidence in our bowlers and they really stepped up.

“We want to keep winning and the aim is to qualify. We take it one game at a time.”

The win means Bermuda are still unbeaten in the Americas Regional Qualifier on six points, two clear of Canada who had earlier thrashed Panama in the other game. The size of their victory leaves them with a net run-rate of 3.09, just 0.09 inferior to Bermuda.