Belize have won the 7th edition of Central American Championships in Mexico City, after defeating the defending Champions Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in the final by 5 wickets. Belize thus finished the tournament with 3 T20I wins over Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica and the finale T20 win over MCC. All matches in the Men’s category were played out at Reforma Athletic Club in Mexico City.
Belize, Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica’s men’s squads made their T20I debut’s in the tournament, which was previously won by MCC in 2017 in Belize. Panama also registered two T20I wins over Mexico and Costa Rica, while the host’s manages a solitary T20I win over Costa Rica, who finished their campaign without a win. Mexico had participated in the 2018 South American Championships (which they won) in Colombia, while Belize and Panama participated in the 2018 ICC Americas sub-regional qualifiers for 2020 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in USA against the host’s and Canada.
Yusuf Ebrahim (145 runs in 4 matches) of Panama was the leading run-scorer in the tournament, followed by Belize’s Andrew Banner Jr (119 runs from 5 matches), Bernan Stephenson (115 runs from 5 matches), Glenford Banner (114 runs from 5 matches) and MCC’s James Hawley (113 runs from 4 matches).
Aaron Muslar of Belize led the bowling charts with 13 scalps from 5 matches, while Richard Atkins (MCC), Nithin Kumar Shetty (Mexico), Sam Smith (MCC) and Kenroy Reynolds (Belize) picked up 6 wickets apiece in the tournament. Marylebone Cricket Club were on their first overseas tour of 2019, as they visited Costa Rica for few T20 matches before travelling to Mexico for the Central American Championships.
In the Women’s category, Mexico Women won the series against Costa Rica Women, who were making their T20I debut in the tournament. Mexico Women had already made their T20I debut during 2018 South American Championships in Colombia. The first two matches in the 3-match T20I series were played out in the Las Cabellerizas ground, while the final T20I was held at Reforma Athletic Club.
Brief Scores (Final)
Marylebone Cricket Club 137/9 in 20 overs (James Hawley 37, Clint McCabe 35, Daniel Lewis Williams 31 n.o, Aaron Muslar 3/19, Garret Banner Jr 2/15, George Hyde 1/11) lost to Belize 138/5 in 18.2 overs (Andrew Banner Jr 53, Glenford Banner 31, Aaron Muslar 20, Kenton Young 10 n.o, Guy Balmford 2/5, Chris Vernon 2/12, Muhammad Nadeem Khan 1/16) by 5 wickets
