ICC Americas U15 Northern Division - Captain Kumar's classic innings leads Canada to title
By Peter Della Penna
Nitesh Kumar saved his best innings for last as Canada's captain scored 68 not out, getting Canada across the line with a tense 3-wicket victory over USA to win the ICC Americas Northern Division U-15 Tournament at Erskine Cricket Ground in Brooklyn, N.Y. Kumar was named Man of the Match and Man of the Tournament after finishing with the second most runs while topping the averages with 173 at 86.5, in addition to being tied for third in the wickets column with 8 at 10.50.
USA finished second with the loss while Bermuda finished third. Had Bermuda beaten USA in the first match of the tournament which USA won by one run, Bermuda would have been tournament champions because they would have finished level on points with Canada but would have won out with a superior net run rate.
At the post tournament trophy presentation, several honors were shared among the teams. While Kumar was named Man of the Tournament, Kamau Leverock of Bermuda was named the Best Bowler at the event after finishing tied with Ratnayake at nine wickets in four matches. Ratnayake was named Best Fielder for his brilliant fielding as he took five catches throughout the week and teamed up for a run out in the final match. Taylor was named Best Batsman after leading the runs list with 183 in four innings including two half-centuries. Christian Burgess was named Best Wicketkeeper for his tidy glovework, not to mention a series of stunning diving catches behind the stumps to finish with the most dismissals in the tournament
Official Scorecard
ICC Americas Northern Division U-15 Tournament - Canada vs. USA
Canada won by 3 wickets
USA won the toss and batted
Man of the Match: Nitesh Kumar
USA Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
V Valluri 2 6 0 0 LBW Rajasingam
R Patel 2 11 0 0 ct Kumar bowled Rajasingam
S Taylor*+ 12 9 0 1 ct Rajasingam bowled Ratnayake
A Buch 20 78 1 0 ct Dutta bowled Manoosingh
T Ross 14 33 0 1 ct Ahmed bowled Jansz
A Persaud 25 52 1 0 ct Sidhu bowled Gillar
K Edmondson 13 26 0 0 ct Shaikh bowled Kumar
R Varadarajan 8 6 0 1 runout (Ratnayake/Rajasingam/Ghosal+)
K Goel 1 5 0 0 ct Sidhu bowled Kumar
O Singh 4 9 0 0 not out
P Pradhan 3 5 0 0 not out
Total Extras 23 (0 no balls, 1 bye, 1 leg bye, 21 wides)
Team Total 127 for 9 in 40 overs
Fall of wicket: 3/1 (Valluri), 16/2 (Patel), 16/3 (Taylor), 41/4 (Ross), 82/5 (Buch), 104/6 (Edmondson), 115/7 (Varadarajan), 117/8 (Persaud), 121/9 (Goel).
Canada Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
V Ratnayake 6-1-25-1
S Rajasingam 5-1-9-2
M Jansz 4-1-7-1
N Dutta 3-0-10-0
T Manoosingh 4-1-12-1
N Kumar 8-1-22-2
S Ahmed 5-1-18-0
A Gillar 5-0-22-1
Canada Batting
Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal
N Kumar* 68 90 5 0 not out
S Rajasingam 1 10 0 0 ct Singh bowled Pradhan
T Shaikh 2 12 0 0 ct Patel bowled Goel
N Dutta 5 19 1 0 runout (Goel/Taylor+)
T Manoosingh 0 7 0 0 st Taylor bowled Goel
S Ahmed 9 12 0 0 ct Varadarajan bowled Patel
V Ratnayake 21 11 1 2 ct Buch bowled Patel
J Sidhu 8 37 0 0 ct Buch bowled Pradhan
A Gillar 0 0 0 0 not out
Total Extras 14 (0 no balls, 3 byes, 2 leg byes, 9 wides)
Team Total 128 for 7 in 32.5 overs
Did not bat: A Ghosal+, M Jansz
Fall of wicket: 7/1 (Rajasingam), 29/2 (Shaikh), 40/3 (Dutta), 41/4 (Manoosingh), 62/5 (Ahmed), 87/6 (Ratnayake), 126/7 (Sidhu).
USA Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets
P Pradhan 4.5-0-15-2
A Buch 4-0-12-0
T Ross 8-1-19-0
K Goel 7-0-27-2
V Valluri 2-0-9-0
R Varadarajan 3-0-19-0
R Patel 4-0-22-2
