USA captain Monank Patel’s 76 off 45 balls laid the foundation for a lopsided win over tournament host Cayman Islands in the opening match of the North American T20 Cup on Saturday at Jimmy Powell Oval in Grand Cayman. Monank was named Player of the Match after top-scoring in USA’s total of 186 for 6 before they restricted Cayman Islands to 107 for 7 in reply.
USA won the toss and chose to bat first in the men’s side’s first ever match at the venue. With Andries Gous currently playing in the Pakistan Super League, it meant that USA opted to send in Shayan Jahangir to open the batting with Saiteja Mukkamalla. The pair put on 34 for the opening partnership with Mukkamalla making 17 before he was out to Conroy Wright, flicking a full delivery to deep square leg in the fourth over. Jahangir cruised along in a 55-run stand for the second wicket with Monank before he was out in unlucky fashion for 39 after he flicked a leg stump half-volley straight to short fine leg to gift Romario Edwards his first wicket as the score became 89 for 2 in the 11th.
Monank continued to chug away, bringing up a 36-ball half-century off the last ball of the 14th over by driving a straight six – his second of four during his knock – off Demar Johnson. Milind Kumar fell off the very next ball to start the 15th over, miscuing a short ball from Adrian Wright to Johnson at long-on for 15 to make it 127 for 3. With Monank at the crease, USA had a 200-plus score in the crosshairs and he began the 17th over slamming another leg side six off Davion Codner. However, he fell trying to repeat the shot, caught at deep midwicket by Wright to give Codner a wicket as USA fell to 158 for 4 with 22 balls to go.
Edwards claimed Aaron Jones for his second wicket to end the 19th over as Jones drove the medium pacer to Johnson at long-on to make it 180 for 5. USA could only scratch out six runs off the final over before Sanjay Krishnamurthi fell on the final ball of the innings to Conroy Wright, driving a full ball to Adrian Wright at long-off for 12.
Conroy Wright finished with 2 for 28 off his four overs to be Cayman’s most economical bowler on the day. Edwards returned 2 for 35 off his four while Adrian Wright took 1 for 31 off four. Codner claimed 1 for 14 off his only over while Johnson was Cayman’s most expensive bowler on the day, giving away 45 runs off three overs.
Cayman got off to an aggressive start in the chase, rattling off 33 runs in the first 3.3 overs to give USA a brief scare. But Saurabh Netravalkar’s double-strike in the fourth over helped grind the host side’s momentum to a near halt. Netravalkar claimed Jermaine Baker for 30 off 20 balls courtesy of a brilliant diving catch by Monank going to his right inside the ring at midwicket to intercept a miscued flick off the pads. Netravalkar then trapped Akshay Naidoo on the very next ball for a straightforward lbw decision after a shuffle across the stumps to flick to the leg side went awry as Cayman slipped to 33 for 2 in the fourth.
Opener Sacha de Alwis crawled to 13 off 14 in the eighth over before legspinner Yasir Mohammad struck for the first of his four wickets, inducing a top-edged sweep that floated to fellow New Jersey teammate Mukkamalla running in from deep square leg to take a catch making it 52 for 3. Former captain Ramon Sealy fell in the first over after drinks for 17 to Ali Sheikh as a full ball was driven to Milind at long-on to make it 68 for 4.
Mohammad then replaced Sheikh in the attack for the 13th and struck three times in the space of his next 10 deliveries. First to go in the sequence was Sam Foster for 10 off 18 balls, bowled behind his legs after walking too far across his stumps and missing an attempted flick to the leg side. Mohammad ended the over by getting Codner for 2 on a lofted drive down the ground that picked out Sheikh running to his right from long-off. Demar Johnson was on 4 off 7 balls before he slogged Mohammad for six over midwicket in the 15th, but overbalanced while fanning his attempt to repeat the shot on the next ball and was out stumped by Jahangir for 10 to make it 84 for 7.
The Cayman tail stubbornly held off USA’s bowling unit from taking any more wickets across the final five overs of play, but never seriously threatened to go after the target either as they managed to add just 23 more runs. Conroy Wright ended not out on 11 off 18 balls with one four while Edwards was unbeaten on 8 off 19 balls.
Mohammad, who only had four wickets across seven T20Is entering the day, doubled his career tally in the format to end with 4 for 20. Netravalkar claimed 2 for 19 in four overs. Sheikh returned 1 for 16 off his four overs. Vice-captain Jessy Singh was USA’s most expensive bowler on the day conceding 0 for 30 off four while debutant offspinner Akhilesh Bodugum took the new ball and returned a tidy 0 for 17 off four overs.
USA returns to action on Sunday against Bahamas, who had a bye on Saturday. In the opening day’s second match, Canada chased down a target of 106 with 11 balls to spare to beat Bermuda by five wickets.