ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

BERMUDA v UNITED STATES OF AMERICA This was Bermuda’s first first-class match since 1972 when Bermuda met New Zealand, also at the National Stadium. The pitch was probably not much better than on that previous occasion when it was described by Wisden as “poor at the start and dreadful by the end”. Certainly this match was not expected to last all three days. Under these circumstances, the Americans were perhaps fortunate to win the toss. After losing Jignesh Desai at 16, proceedings were dominated by Steve Massiah who led by example, batting patiently but showing that the pitch held few horrors, at least against this Bermudan attack. Seven other batsmen reached double figures, all playing cautiously to give Massiah support, with Tony Reid the most successful; he hit five fours in his innings of 26, putting on 79 runs with his captain for the sixth wicket. Massiah was eventually the seventh batsman out, by which time he had reached 104, but with only five fours and a strike rate of 44.4. Zamin Amin and Nasir Islam added valuable runs before the Americans were forced to declare, the first innings being limited to 90 overs. Although Dennis Archer was the most successful bowler, it was the left-arm spinner, Dwayne Leverock, who looked the most dangerous; he bowled 35% of his team’s overs. Bermuda carefully batted out the 13 overs remaining in the day. Their captain, Clay Smith, said he had achieved his objective in keeping the USA to a total below 300. Caution was the feature of Bermuda’s innings with the batsmen still expecting the pitch to misbehave whereas, in reality, it gave little assistance to the bowlers. Bermuda batted far too slowly and gave themselves no chance of getting anywhere near the American total within the allotted 90 overs. That they got above 200, the score required to obtain maximum bonus points, was due largely to a confident display from Clay Smith who batted with purpose, despite a bothersome left knee which he had twisted whilst fielding on the first day; 68% of his runs came in boundaries and a century looked a real possibility until he mis-hit a hook shot to give Howard Johnson an easy return catch. Leverock gave valuable defensive support in an eighth-wicket stand of 67 runs. Once the batting bonus points had been achieved, Bermuda declared to prevent the Americans from increasing their tally of bowling points. With a 96-run lead, the Americans decided it was time to ignore any fears about the pitch and get on top of the bowling. Despite an injury, Mark Johnson and fellow-opener, Desai, showed how innocuous the Bermudan pace attack was. Johnson was particularly impressive since he had sixteen stitches in his upper lip, having been struck in the face by a rising delivery from Saleem Mukuddem in the first innings. David Gibbs went for 20 runs in his two overs and, with the exception of Leverock, all the attack proved expensive. The opening partnership was worth 62 after which Leverock returned some sanity to the occasion with three wickets in quick succession. Naseer Javed, promoted up the order, and Aijaz Ali ended the day in an unbeaten partnership of 38, with the USA ahead by 237 runs and six wickets remaining. At the start of the third day the Americans were aiming for quick runs and a pre-lunch declaration but, shortly after play got under way, heavy rain brought a stop to the proceedings for 71 minutes. The damp pitch suited Leverock who proved virtually unplayable as the USA were dismissed within a further 15 overs for an addition of only 42 runs to their overnight lead. Leverock’s return of seven wickets was obtained in only just over 16 overs, a strike rate of 14.0. Although the Americans had no spin bowler with the ability to exploit the conditions as well as Leverock had done, they did not need one. The pace attack of Howard Johnson and Reid was enough as most of Bermuda’s batsmen threw their wickets away in pursuit of quick runs. The target of 280 to win in an estimated 88 overs, allowing extra time for the rain delay, required only 3.2 runs per over and might have been achievable with sensible batting. Instead, only Smith, Leverock and, later, Archer, showed any application, by which time they were fighting for a draw and were ultimately unable to prevent a comfortable American victory. Steve Massiah obtained the Man-of-the-Match award, for which Clay Smith and Dwayne Leverock must have been close contenders. 28 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2004