Jimmy Powell Oval, Cayman (Bermuda won toss): Canada beat Bermuda by five wickets

A half-century by Bermuda captain Terryn Fray was not enough to help his side to victory as they lost to Canada in their first match in the North American Cup.

With Bermuda batting first, Fray scored 52 from deliveries at the top of the order before a middle-order collapse resulted in Bermuda ending their 20 overs on 105 for eight. That was short of the required runs and Canada chased the score down to win with 11 balls remaining.

Fray was pleased with his performance despite the result not going the way he wanted.

“I just think I’ve hit a good little patch of my game,” he said. “I can’t really put my finger on it but I batted well in the two practice games. I just took time to get used to the surface and then today I just took it personal as I knew they were good opposition and had good bowlers.

“They were top-heavy with the spinners but that is part of my game I’ve been working on and good opposition breeds good cricket. It motivates you to want to play. I didn’t come up through T20 but I do enjoy playing it.”

Bermuda are using this competition to try out new combinations at the top of the order in preparation for the all-important ICC T20 America World Cup Qualifier in June and Alex Dore was given the responsibility of opening the batting alongside Fray.

However, his afternoon did not last long as he fell in the third over to fast bowler Kaleem Sana after scoring just one. His replacement Onias Bascome also failed to see out the over, falling for one to leave Bermuda at 11 for two after just three overs.

It was then left to a couple of Bermuda captains, one past and one present, to stabilise the innings with Fray and Rawlins combining well for a partnership of 77, even if the run-rate was perhaps a little slow.

Boundaries proved particularly hard to come by for the top and middle order with Fray the only Bermuda batter managing to reach the ropes, with four boundaries among his total.

Fray and Rawlins returned to the pavilion within three balls of each other after Fray was caught by Yuvraj Samra off the bowling of Harsh Thaker and Rawlins became Sana’s third wicket when caught by Saad Bin Zafar for 34.

That left Bermuda at 90 for four after 16.3 overs and heralded a middle-order collapse with only Dominic Sabir, who managed nine from eight balls, spending any significant time at the crease.

Sinclair Smith (2), Allan Douglas Jr (0) and Zeko Burgess (0) were all bowled by Jaskandareep Singh, with Derrick Brangman and Jermal Proctor occupying the crease at the end of Bermuda’s 20 overs.

The batting line-up is something causing concern to Fray, who feels runs were left on the field.

“Without putting any blame on anyone, our middle to lower order end still has to be more high percentage and clinical in their decision making,” he said.

“We’re still looking to go across the line too much and we just need to go a little straighter, be a bit more patient and could have got 20 more runs.

In response, Canada captain Navneet Dhaliwal made a swift start with the bat, dominating the strike with partner Ali Nadeem scoring just three of the 29 runs on the board before he was caught by Sabir off Burgess’s bowling.

Dhaliwal was next to fall for 29 and although wickets fell at regular intervals, with Rawlins, Douglas, Proctor and Kevon Fubler, all getting one wicket apiece, Canada were never behind the run-rate, with the winning runs coming off the first ball of the eighteenth over.

But Fray was pleased with the way Bermuda’s bowlers defended the total.

“The guys bowled really well and the fielding was on par. We lost the game with the bat today as our bowling and fielding was exceptional. We did well to restrict them but they are a good team. They have been to the World Cup but we’re happy with where are given the lack of training and lack of resources, so we are trying to use this tournament as a way to get into some good nick and some good form.”

In the first match of the competition, pre-tournament favourites USA beat host nation Cayman Islands by 79 runs.