Emphatic USA trounce table toppers WI-E

[Ulquiorra]

 

Stevenson hit a brisk, unbeaten 33 before picking up two wickets for USA. © Getty

Cameron Stevenson's all round show paved the way for USA to register their first win in the Regional Super50, against West indies Emerging, by 43 runs. The Australian import starred with the bat (33*) and then came back to clinch two crucial wickets to help USA avenge their defeat against the same opposition earlier in the month.

USA were reeling at 133-7 before their all-weather crisis man Timil Patel stepped into make a dogged 35 along with Stevenson to help post a competitive score of 216 for 9 in their 50 overs. Later in the game USA bowlers made sure they didn't revisit the ghosts of the earlier games where they gifted the matches away after having oppositions in the dock. USA had WI-E crumbling at 59 for 5 before cleaning them up for 173.

Earlier in the day, USA stand-in captain Steven Taylor got lucky at the toss and opted to bat. The management's top-order auditions continued once again as they had Xavier Marshall and Sagar Patel strolling out in the middle for this game. Marshall started in an upbeat fashion, riding on the confidence he would've got with a half century in his last innings. Sensing Marshall's affinity for having some pace on the ball early in his innings, WI-E was quick to introduce left-arm tweaker Camarie Boyce, who struck in his first over to remove the opener for 14.

Taylor walked in with the score at 24 for 1 in the seventh over. Both the batsman opted for a cautious approach at the crease with Taylor hitting an odd boundary in between. Sagar got off to a much-needed start but threw it away in the 19th over after WI-E had him bogged down for majority of his innings.

Aaron Jones came in at 64 for 2 and his horror run continued as he ran himself out in the next over. Jones now has 29 runs in four innings on this tour. USA found themselves in a spot of bother for at 82 for 4 as Taylor too could not build further in his innings and was dismissed by Sinclair for 22. USA's best batsman in the tournament until now Monank Patel, once again oozed confidence with his presence on the pitch but his innings of 27 off 32 had to be cut short by a direct hit from Cato.

With not much resistance from the lower middle order, USA were floundering at 133 for 7 in the 34th over. But Timil kept the bowlers at bay with some gritty batting, as has been the case many times in the past, and kept the scoreboard ticking. He fell in the penultimate over after making a sedate 35. Stevenson used his long levers in the death overs to play a cameo of 33 off 23 balls as USA reached some sort of a respectability at 216 in their 50 overs.

Rusty Theron, the ex-South Africa international, made a comeback for USA and paired up with Elmore Hutchinson to share the new ball. The WI-E got off to a worst possible start as the ever dependable Elmore struck with his first ball of the innings and had Gidron Pope nicking behind for a duck. Joshua Da Silva who has been in red hot form this tournament started building the innings with Kimani Melius. The pair almost got through the first power play unscathed before Elmore came back once again to send back Melius, drawing a healthy edge to the keeper Monank.

Taylor introduced Kenjige and Stevenson soon after the first powerplay. The pair combined to have the WI-E collapse at 59 for 5. Stevenson brought a sense of fresh energy every time he hustled towards the bowling crease. Kenjige looked in rhythm too with immaculate line and length, something amiss in his game ever since Gore has displaced him as USA's first choice left arm spinner.

Sinclair put on a fight with some fierce strikes out of the ground and resisted the inevitable for a while. The WI-E innings meandered along until Timil came back in his second spell to castle Jermaine Levy to hand USA a convincing win. Kenjige was the pick of the bowlers for the USA claiming three wickets by the end of innings.

USA finally managed to open their account on the points table, something they could have possibly done in three of their last four games. They play their next game on Thursday (November 21) against a formidable opposition in T&T, at the Queen's Park Oval.

Brief Scores: USA 216/9 in 50 overs (Timil Patel 35, Cameron Stevenson 33*; Yannick Carriah 2-35) beat West indies Emerging 173 all out in 44.2 overs (Kevin Sinclair 46, Joshua Da Silva 31; Noshthush Kenjige 3-34) by 43 runs,