Bermuda cricketers win a thriller against UAE: full match report
Sharjah - Bermuda, 275-6, beat UAE under-19s, 274-9, by four wicketsLionel Cann hit 85, Rodney Trott was unbeaten on 38, and Bermuda chased down 275 to win a thrilling encounter against UAE under-19s in Sharjah with just four balls to spare today.Cann and Trott rescued their side from the perilous position of 140 for five, and put on 113 to seal a four wicket win that at one stage looked like being beyond them.Even when Cann was out, Stefan Kelly came into to join Trott, and it was the fast bowler who ultimately scored the winning run.Trott also starred with the ball, taking four for 40 from 10 overs, a bright point in an otherwise disappointing bowling display.Struggling on a lifeless wicket, Bermuda's bowlers didn't concede as many extras as in previous games, but they didn't have the penetration either.While Trott was wheeling away at one end, runs were being leaked with alarming regularity at the other, and after a tour of great promise Damlai Bell had a day he is likely to want to forget in a hurry.Bell conceded a whopping 75 runs from nine overs, and while he also took the first wicket to fall yesterday, that of Reuben Abraham, he suffered more than most from the power and precision of UAE pair Swapnil Patil and Shaimon Anwar.Members of the UAE senior side brought in to bolster a brittle UAE batting line-up, and give Bermuda a real test into the bargain, Patil (97) and Anwar (91) gave the touring side a lesson in building an innings and compiling a big score.Such was the dominance of the two, that Swapnil was retired when he reached 42 in order that one of the other batsmen might get a look in.At that stage UAE were 125 for one, with 25 overs still left to bat, and Jordan Desilva had blown two chances to catch Anwar on the boundary in the previous over.Trott made several breakthroughs immediately following Patil's voluntary departure, taking the wickets of Sathya Ramesh (one), Chriaq Suri (nought), and Zamin Jaleel (one).He rounded it off by trapping Sarwan lbw for 91, and UAE were 158 for five, that they passed 150 was all down to Sarwan, who having taken 73 balls to make 50, needed just 15 more to reach his final score.Even then UAE weren't finished, and Aqib Malik (39) came on to get things moving once more. After the loss of Mohammed Hamid (nine) and Dan D'Souza (eight), Patil returned, and he the pair put on 63 for the eighth wicket in little more than six overs.Patil should have batted until the end and made what would have been a well deserved century, but on 97 he pushed a ball into the covers, strolled what he assumed would be an easy single, and was run out by a direct thrown from Stovell.Malik was eventually run out for 39 off the final ball of the innings and the UAE's total of 274 for nine looked very defendable on a flat wicket that was ideally suited to their army of spinners.Stovell (26) and David Hemp (49) quickly set about disabusing everyone of that theory as they raced to 43 in less than five overs, before Stovell got himself out playing a silly shot that got him caught at mid-on.That was largely the story of the start of Bermuda's reply, soft wickets leaving them in a hole at 140 for five, with Foggo (35) the victim of an unlucky run out when bowler Justin James diverted the ball on to the stumps following a full-bloodied drive by Cann.With 18 overs left, Bermuda still needed 131 runs to win. But the game turned on the batting power play, which Bermuda took from the 36 over when they were 161 for five.Some good running, inventive batting, and clean hitting put Bermuda ahead for the first time as Cann and Trott took them pass 200, putting on 43 runs in that period.Still, Bermuda were 71 runs behind, with 10 overs left to play, and the certain knowledge that there was little, if any, batting to come should a wicket fall.They needn't have worried, Cann and Trott played the perfect innings, running very little risk, and by the time Cann was caught on the square leg boundary attempting another big six the target was down to 22 runs off 19 deliveries.More sharp running, mostly from Kelly who was often running to the danger end, brought the target down to four from the final over.Trott hit Malik's first ball over mid-off for three, Kelly dropped the ball and ran a single, and Bermuda had completed a truly stunning comeback.