Hurlingham Club, Buenos Aires (Bermuda won toss): Bermuda (2pts) beat Surinam (0) by 92 runs

Any of the residual anxiety from 24 hours earlier when Bermuda were unable to get on to the park against the host nation was quickly put to bed in a decidedly one-sided contest in the Argentine capital this afternoon.

Bermuda headed into this competition as the heaviest of favourites, and there was little on this evidence to suggest that anyone but Terryn Fray would get their hands on the ICC T20 World Cup Americas Sub-Regional Qualifier trophy when all is done and dusted in nine days’ time.

The newly minted captain called correctly at the toss and, despite losing Dominic Sabir three balls into the match, it was plain sailing for Bermuda.

A clue as to what would come lie in the first two balls that were dispatched for four by Sabir, the second a shocking full toss that wasn’t hit far enough for what it deserved.

When the Somerset youngster’s eyes got a bit too giddy and he skied the third straight loose offering from Troy Dudnath, the door was open for others to fill their boots.

While no one entirely did so to lasting effect, there was enough carnage done to get Bermuda to a total of 161 for seven that was almost 50 runs in excess of any score made by the other eight teams in Buenos Aires two days into the tournament.

Tre Manders joined Fray at the wicket and dominated a 62-run stand in making 44 off 33 balls, with four fours and a six.

At 71 for two, when Manders lost his head and the prospect of a deserved fifty, that was the match right there for Surinam — and on the evidence of their batting performance against Panama on Friday, they probably knew it.

The final total — augmented by 37 from Dion Stovell, 20 from the captain, and abortive starts from the St George’s pair of Onias Bascome (15) and Jonté Smith (12) — left the stage for Kevon Fubler to mark his long-awaited return to international cricket with three wickets in a miserly four-over spell that yielded MVP honours.

Happier against the quicker bowlers, Surinam were totally out of their depth when pace was taken off the ball on a sluggish track that was hosting its second match of the day — initially when seamer Jermal Proctor claimed the first two wickets with cutters, and then when Fray let loose his quartet of spinners.

Derrick Brangman has earned the right to be Bermuda’s go-to slow bowler, but it was fellow left-armer Fubler who impressed most on this day with a variety of curve, dip and spin that would challenge batters with far superior CVs to those he will encounter in Argentina.

His figures of three for four, combined with Brangman’s two for eight, Stovell’s one for 15 and Sabir’s solitary over that went for two, were the highlight of a Bermuda effort in which 13 overs of spin went for a mere 29 at 2.23 an over. In T20 cricket!

The only Surinam batter to reach double figures was Yuvraj Dayal, the bulk of whose 22 from 28 balls came after the frontline spinners had finished.

Bermuda, who top the table on net run-rate, are next in action tomorrow morning against Panama, beaten by 83 runs by Cayman Islands in today’s other late match.

Cayman scored 124 for six in their 20 overs and bowled out the Panamanians for 41 in 15 overs. Which only bodes well for Fubler and Co.

“I came into this tournament feeling very confident,” Fubler told The Royal Gazette. “I trained well and am just looking to execute throughout.

“I was getting a good bit of turn. They were trying to go after me, so I just gave it a good deal of air. It’s a big field.”

The Willow Cuts player, who spent the second half of the domestic summer on loan with St George’s, also spoke of the value of wicketkeeper Sinclair Smith, whose neat stumping of Gavin Singh accounted for his second wicket.

“Sinclair is special in this team,” he said. “There’s nothing like having a specialist wicketkeeper. It makes everything easier for the bowlers as well.”