The fate of Bermuda?s Americas Championship hopes are now out of their hands as bad light resulted in yesterday?s rain-affected match at the Maple Leaf CC grounds in King City, Toronto being abandoned shortly after 6 p.m. under overcast skies.

Match officials later declared the contest a no result and awarded each team two points.

But with group leaders Bermuda having completed their four matches, nearest rivals USA have a game in hand and need only to win their final match today against Canada to win a second Americas Championship in six years.

High-flying Bermuda entered the day knowing full well a win would clinch the championship. However, their bid would be undermined by inclement weather which forced two rain stoppages, and then fading light batting on a rapidly deteriorating pitch.

Bermuda won the crucial toss and sent the Americans in to bat on a green top in the hopes their fast bowling attack of Kevin Hurdle, George O?Brien jr and Saleem Mukuddem would make early inroads and keep the batsmen on the defensive.

Hurdle provided his team with the dream start they were looking for when he trapped right handed opener Gowkaran Roopnarine (0) leg before with the fourth delivery of the first over.

But that would be the last bit of celebrating for Bermuda in the field for the next 28 overs as the Island?s bowlers struggled to find the right line with a wet ball, while the likes of Sushil Nadkarni (83) and skipper Steve Massiah (81) took full advantage and grew in confidence with every boundary that crashed into the fence.

Together the pair repaired the early damage by adding 158 runs for the second wicket before rain resulted in play being halted at 1.40 p.m.

Playing amid a steady drizzle, Bermuda skipper Irving Romaine juggled with seven bowlers in a desperate bid to separate Nadkarni and Massiah who batted with resolve, but all to no avail.

Umpires decided to take lunch early and reduced the match to a 40-overs contest when play resumed at 3.30 p.m.

Bermuda struck three times through O?Brien and Mukuddem to have USA 213 for four after the break, only to have rain force a second interruption of play.

Mukuddem made the initial breakthrough in the 32nd over when Massiah hit across the line and was easily caught by Dwayne Leverock fielding at mid on.

Massiah, who scored a century against Bermuda in 2004 at the National Sports Centre, hit 11 fours off 87 balls in 135 minutes.

Guyanese batsman Lennox Cush (two) hung around for four balls before an O?Brien inswinger rapped the batsman on the pads.

O?Brien then softened Nadkarni up by peppering the batsman with a few short deliveries. Nadkarni then attempted to hit his way out of trouble but only succeeded in edging catch behind that wicketkeeper Kwame Tucker comfortably grabbed.

Nadkarni struck eight fours off 101 balls in 163 minutes.

Carl Wright (17) and Jignesh Desai (six) began repairing the damage before rain halted play at 4.07 p.m., signalling the end of USA?s innings and forcing the Duckworth/Lewis scoring system into play.

O?Brien led the Bermuda bowling with hard-earned figures of two for 54 before he pulled up with a suspected muscle strain, while Hurdle took one for 54 and Mukuddem one for 38 each off eight over spells.

After several minutes of arguing over the correct reduction among team and match officials, Bermuda?s target was finally set at 163 runs for victory in 24 overs.

Bermuda opener Stephen Outerbridge (four) smashed a boundary to get his team?s innings off in a flurry.

However, the Americans responded by claiming two wickets in the space of four runs. Outerbridge was first to go, caught at mid on by a delivery that came off the toe of the bat.

And he would be joined five deliveries later by Kwame Tucker who went for a four-ball duck when he was cleaned bowled by a ball that cut back sharply off the seam.

From here, elder statesmen Clay Smith (two) and Mukuddem (one) held the Americans at bay for one over when the umpires offered the batsmen a call for bad light at 5.58 p.m Skippers from both teams were again summoned at 6.10 p.m. by the umpires and were officially informed there was insufficient time remaining to bowl the necessary 20 overs to constitute a match.

Opening bowlers Awan and Pitter finished with one for seven and one for five respectively.

Bermuda still top the pile with 14 points to USA?s eight.

However, USA have a superior run rate over Bermuda and therefore only require an outright win over Canada ? who will be competing for the third spot ? in today?s final round of matches.

Cayman Islands take on Argentina in today?s other fixture at King City that could again be affected by the weather as rain have been predicted to remain in the Toronto area for the remainder of the weekend.