Bermuda will face United States in the semi-final of the North America Cup today after the pre-tournament favourites were beaten by Canada in the closing round of group matches on Thursday.

Canada overcame the US by 17 runs in a well-contested match, topping the group stage and setting up the easier semi-final against fourth-ranked Cayman Islands, with Bermuda forced to again face the US, who beat them by ten wickets earlier in the tournament.

Bermuda go into the game without captain Terryn Fray, who has returned to the island to attend a wedding, but coach Cal Waldron was well aware of the situation.

“We knew he was leaving and it was something we discussed,” Waldron said.

“It gives an opportunity to blood new people in different roles. First as skipper, Sinclair [Smith] has been Fray’s vice-captain and they have a relationship where they have understood the game plan and how we are doing things.”

Bermuda produced arguably their best performance of the tournament in the ten-wicket victory against Bahamas on Wednesday, a couple of days after the heavy defeat by the US, and Waldron was again most satisfied with the bowlers.

“It was a good way to bounce back and do some of the things that we talked about doing at this tournament,” Waldron said.

“The bowlers have been at the forefront and they continued their form. Oddly enough, that is the first game that we’ve actually bowled first so they were able to go out and set the tone to allow the batters to chase what turned out to be a low total.”

Bermuda have had two days off in advance of the semi-final and Waldron feels the break will have allowed his players to recuperate.

“We’ll be doing recovery sessions and getting them treated to make sure they are 100 per cent,” Waldron said.

“Nobody is hurt but we want to make sure their bodies are in optimal conditions. We’ll do game plans, game reviews and hopefully get in a light session just to knock off a bit of recovery and try to work on a few little things in preparation for the semi-final.”

With everything done right off the pitch, Waldron knows what he wants to see on it.

“Lowering our dot-ball percentage means we’ll end up scoring the total we want against them,” Waldron said.

“Now that we’ve understood the pitch and its conditions, the bowlers can bowl a little more to the game plan that would enable us to limit their scoring and make it competitive.”