Toronto, July 18, 2017: USA Under-19s (U19) beat Bermuda U19 by six wickets in the opening game of the ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier on Monday (July 17, 2017) at Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City, Ontario. Heavy rains had left their mark on the grounds but play was eventually possible thanks to a switch to the south-east ground and the reduction of overs per innings from 50 to 20 overs.

Bermuda U19 reached 103/8 after 20 overs, 56 of those runs came from opening bat Ras Burrows. US medium pacer Aravind Patnam took 3/12 from 4 overs. All three of Patnam’s wickets and a run out came during the 20th over.

USA captain Arjun Patel paved the way to victory with a knock of 46* after the US first wicket fell to a second ball run out . Patel’s batting support came from opener Harish Easwariah (15) in a second wicket stand of 36 and Ray Ramrattan (15) in a third wicket partnership of 29. USA reached a winning 104/4 after 16.3 overs with 104/4. Bermuda’s Jaiden Manders took 2/10 from 3.3 overs.

USA U19 face hosts Canada U19 today (Tuesday July 18, 2017) at Maple Leaf CC in a game scheduled to start at 10.30am.

The first set of round-robin games in this ICC Americas U19 World Cup Qualifier conclude with Wednesday’s (July 19, 2017) game at Maple Leaf CC between Canada U19 and Bermuda U19. A second set of round-robin games begin on Friday (July 21, 2017) at Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club on Wilson Avenue, Toronto with USA U19 playing Bermuda U19. The action returns to Maple Leaf CC on Saturday (July 22, 2017) where Canada U19 and Bermuda U19 are due to meet. The closing game of this Qualifier is at Toronto CSCC on Sunday (July 23, 2017) when Canada U19 go head-to-head with USA U19.

The top team after two rounds of matches in this ICC Americas U19 Qualifier advances to the 2018 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.

Eddie Norfolk