Nepal lost its first match of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3 against the USA by massive 94 runs on Sunday night as the American wicketkeeper batsman Steven Taylor played a blistering knock of 162 runs off 102 balls.
Winning the toss, Nepal invited the USA to bat first at the Somerset Cricket Club in Bermuda but went on to concede a massive 366 for six in maximum 50 overs. In reply, Nepal was all out for 272 with one ball remaining in the innings.
USA got off to a flying start as openers Steven Taylor and Orlando Baker put up a 125-run partnership within 17.2 overs. While Baker scored a patient 37 runs off 56 balls, Taylor brought up his century off 61 balls, and then picked up the pace.
Florida-born Taylor wasted no time in finding the boundaries, demonstrating why he was the top run scorer in the recent ICC Americas Division 1 Championship. Taylor clobbered 12 boundaries and 12 sixes.
Nepal finally got the breakthrough it was looking as Basant Regmi caught Taylor off Sanjam Regmi in the second ball of the 35th over. USA was 234/3 in 35 overs. Following Taylor’s departure, USA lost wickets regularly, but the Nepal bowlers were not able to smother the run rate. A hard-hitting 67 not out by Timroy Allen helped the USA reach its formidable total of 366 for six.
Sushil Nadkarni (28) and Neil McGarrel (22) put up important cameo role in the USA innings.
Hapless Nepali bowlers were punished being hit all around the field, with all of them having economy rate above 7 except Basanta Regmi, whose bowling figures were 10-0-46-2 with 4.6 economy rate.
Besides, Amrit Bhattarai, spinners Sanjam Regmi and Shakti Gauchan took one wicket apiece. USA batsmen hit 25 fours and 22 sixes, combined. Nepal conceded 21 runs as extras.
Required to score a mammoth 367 runs for win, Nepal never looked in the hunt as it lost opener Anil Mandal for duck in second over and another opener Subash Khakurel (23) in the eighth over.
Nepal lost Gyanendra Malla (9), Binod Bhandari (4) and Pradeep Airee (14) cheaply, with half of its batting lineup eliminated for just 106 runs in the 24th over. Skipper Paras Khadka and Sharad Vesawkar shared a 69-run sixth wicket partnership, the highest in Nepali innings.
Khadka was caught by wicketkeeper Taylor for 73, including nine fours and two sixes. Vesawkar continued the batting offensive, and survived a miss-field by Neil McGarrell to score 72 from 61 balls. Vesawkar shot four boundaries and six sixes.
The tail end continued the run chase and Shakti Gauchan added 39 before being caught on the penultimate delivery of the match, to leave Nepal all out for 272 in 49.5 overs.
Veteran McGarrell, who had played four Test and 17 One-Day matches for West Indies in the past, was the pick of the USA bowlers with three for 42. Elmore Hutchingson and Muhammad Ghous claimed two wickets each while Barrington Bartley grabbed one wicket. Sanjam Regmi and Gyanendra Malla were short to the crease. Basanta Regmi made 7, Sanjam Regmi 14 while Amrit Bhattarai remained not out, without scoring.
Taylor’s knock of 162 was adjudged to be the man-of-the-match performance.
USA skipper Steve Massiah was elated with the result. “We are very pleased with the performance. I thought that it was important that, playing against Nepal who we’ve had many close encounters with over the years and we’ve shared matches with – it’s good to come away with a win. Moving forward, it’s important that we continue the momentum,” said Massiah to ICC media.
“Initially we didn’t plan to make 366, but we’ll take it! I thought it was an incredible performance by young Steven Taylor to score 162. That was amazing batting, and it’s not batting that you see every day, so with that and some other brilliant performances, everyone chipping in, it just goes to show the depth of our team,” he continued.
Man of the Match Taylor, who became the first USA batsman to score a century in Twenty20 cricket at the ICC Americas Division 1 Championship earlier this year, was pleased that his performance. “It was really fun, because after playing against these guys in Malaysia in Division 4 last year, it felt good to come back and give them a real hitting. They beat us twice in Malaysia,” said Taylor.
Nepal captain Paras Khadka was disappointed with the result, despite his side scoring a very respectable total of 272. “As a team, maybe we gave 40 runs more to USA. If it had been 300 or 330, maybe it would have been at par. But when a guy gets 162, it’s just one of those days when you cannot do anything,” said Khadka.
“We were disappointed. Maybe a bigger ground would have made a difference, but Taylor batted extremely well, and I think that is one of the best innings we’ve encountered as a team. The bowlers had a really tough time, from both the teams. But this is the start of the tournament, so we need to take all the positives and move ahead. In the World Cricket League, every match is equally important, and you cannot make excuses. You’ve got to adapt and adjust your game accordingly, and your focus has got to be there,” he added.
In other matches, Uganda beat host Bermuda by 114 runs whereas Oman humiliated Italy by seven wickets.