Team USA did not manage to get the desired results in the Cricket West Indies Super50 regional in Antigua, but has come back from the tournament with plenty of positives to carry forward to upcoming ICC tournaments (WorldT20 qualifiers and WCL Division 3).
While Pubudu Dassanayeke will be mighty pleased with the effort the bowlers put in throughout the course of the tournemant, in which they played 8 List-A matches, the batting department left a lot to be desired from and will be the focus point for improvement in the coming tournaments.
Jaskaran Malhotra, who stood apart in the US Open T20 tournament organised by Cricket Council USA (CCUSA), was the top-scorer for USA in the tournament, scoring 277 runs in 8 innings at a healthy average of 34.62. Considering the fact that he was the opener for the team, his contributions at the top of the order were crucial for USA at the start of their innings.
The rest of the batsmen did not fare well on a consistent basis as is shown by the stats. Sunny Sohal (166 runs in 8 innings), Xavier Marshall (137 runs in 8 innings), Ibrahim Khaleel (142 runs in 8 innings) and Elmore Hutchinson (118 runs in 8 innings) were the next in line in terms of total runs scored in the tournament. That Elmore, who bats at the tail-end of the line-up, features in the top 5 run-getters, tells the story that the batting department struggled more often than not during the entire group phase spanning 8 matches.
Elmore Hutchinson, yet another player who participated in US Open T20 along with Saurabh Netravalker, shone with the ball throughout the tournament. Both picked up 13 wickets from 8 matches respectively. Their averages (18.84/wicket for Elmore and 25.07/wicket for Saurabh) were exceptional as they put the early pressure on the opposition batting line-up by picking wickets at regular spells with the new ball.
Roy Silva (9 wickets from 7 matches), Nosthush Kenjige (9 wickets from 8 matches) and Timil Patel (6 wickets from 8 matches) provided good support to Elmore and Saurabh, as USA managed to bowl really well in their 8 group matches.
A wonderful opportunity for USA to have taken part in the Super50 tournament and getting to play against some of the best talent from Caribbean islands and an English County side as well. It’s a superb story to tell about how an exposure of this nature will help USA cricket grow in stature in the coming years now that the Administrative part of the Sport is also on the right track in the country.
