Bermuda U-19s 257-9

Bahamas U-19s 151

Bermuda have destiny in their own hands at the Under-19 Americas Regional Championships after they saw off Bahamas yesterday by 106 runs, setting up a must-win showdown against rivals Canada today at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in Toronto.

If the side are to advance to the next round of World Cup qualifying, they have to beat Canada convincingly and increase their run rate to overtake the USA and today's opponents.

"It is do or die time for us," said coach Andre Manders last night. "We have to look at the run rate tonight and find out how many runs we need to get in whatever time.

"But we have to win first and will take a look at all these things when we get the stats.

"It is out of the coach's hands now, the boys have to step up and get the job done."

Knowing what had to be done if they were to keep alive their hopes of advancing, Bermuda were sent into bat by Bahamas yesterday and quickly looked to put a big total on the board with openers Terryn Fray and Joshua Gilbert.

However, Fray (13) was back in the pavilion with the score on 23, leaving Chris Douglas the task of steadying the ship. And he did exactly that with a master class innings of 78.

Douglas put on 107 with Gilbert, taking the score to 130 for one before the latter was dismissed shortly after reaching his half-century.

Douglas then took matters into his own hands, punishing the Bahamas attack before he was sent back to the hut with the score on 157.

There was a slight worry when Bermuda lost Regino Smith (7) with the score on 167 for four knowing that in their previous game the middle and lower order all but disappeared under pressure from the Americans.

But Deunte Darrell (19) and Kamau Leverock (36) kept the scoreboard ticking over, swapping the strike. However, after they were dismissed the innings crumbled.

The last five wickets went for 22 runs.

Lateef Trott (5), Sinclair Smith (9) and Kevon Fubler (4) were all dismissed cheaply and Tre Manders (7) and Stephan Dill (8) were at the crease when the innings was closed on 259.

The total was enough to defend with off-spinner Tre Manders causing all sorts of problems for the Bahamians, claiming five wickets for 18 runs from 7.3 overs.

Douglas continued his wicket-taking spree, snatching two for 32 while Kevon Fubler also grabbed a brace for 39.

With their World Cup lives now hanging in the balance, Manders is quietly confident that his side have what it takes to knock off Canada and progress, albeit without one or two players who have injuries.

Leverock has a suspected pulled hamstring and will undergo treatment in a race to be fit for today's game.

"We have a few knocks in the side but we will look at those and see if we can get them ready," said Manders. "We have to come out with our 'A' game and be excellent in all three parts of the game and that will hopefully be enough.

"Through the tournament we have bowled well and have batted well, and vice versa so it is time to put it all together and get the win.

"The boys have done pretty good considering our average age, which is 16. We only have one 19 year-old.

"But we have to work on a few things like batting against spin, which hurt us against the United States. In that match they were out of the game at one point when we were 128 for two and then they put on spin to slow us down and instead of turning over the strike, the boys tried to hit it out of the park.

"So we will address this knowing that Canada will do the same thing, so we just have to prepare.

"When we don't get runs after a few overs, we try to smash our way out which is not the right thing to do.

"Today I saw a little bit of improvement in the batting, we were trying to get to 300 but we lost wickets trying to get to 250.

"Tomorrow (today) we will focus on these things and hopefully get the job done.

"All in all they have performed well and I am proud of them. USA have players from India, Australia, Sri Lanka as does Canada, so we are really up against it but we can still come away with result."