Smith relief as Bermuda go through

Lawrence Trott

Published Mar 3, 2018 at 8:00 am (Updated Mar 2, 2018 at 11:46 pm)

Big hitter: Temiko Wilson scored an unbeaten 34 from 28 balls (Photograph by Lawrence Trott)

Clay Smith was relieved after Bermuda returned to winning ways by beating Argentina by 70 runs to advance to the regional finals of the ICC World T20 Sub Regional Qualifiers.

Smith’s side bounced back from their 124-run loss to Cayman Islands on Wednesday, posting 139 for four in their 20 overs after winning the toss.

They then restricted Argentina to 69 for nine in reply, with the opponents struggling at 24 for five halfway through their allotted overs. Bermuda made three changes to the team that lost to Cayman, with Macai Simmons, Temiko Wilson and Chare Smith coming in for Okera Bascome, Charles Trott and Jacobi Robinson.

Terryn Fray top scored for Bermuda with 40 from 37 balls, with Wilson adding 34 not out from 28 balls, Dion Stovell scoring 31 from 29 balls and Kamau Leverock hitting 25 from 11 balls.

Stovell, who was voted MVP, and Kwasi James led the Bermuda bowling with two wickets each as Stovell was voted MVP. The No 11 Argentina batsman did not bat because of an injury while fielding.

“Chare and Temiko both played their first game and made valuable contributions to the team’s success and have now given me a headache for tomorrow’s [today’s] team selection, which is good,” Smith, the Bermuda coach said.

“Temiko came in at a crucial stage and did well but he clearly saw the difference of standard with the running between the wickets as Terryn ran him to death. But this knock will give him confidence and hopefully he will grow from this experience.

“Dion and Kamau did a fabulous job at the top. Dion has had some hard time out in the middle and with Okera resting he took the bull by the horns and wanted to open as we are a team who looks to maximise in the first six-over powerplay.

“It was a good all-round performance. They used a new wicket, which played very slow, and at periods I thought we could have rotated the strike better and got an extra 15 to 20 runs, especially with the wickets in hand. But that’s me just being picky and expecting more of my players.”

Smith is confident going into the final match against unbeaten Cayman today.

“Tomorrow is the big one, the winner-takes-all match, which is very important from a psychological standpoint,” he said. “We win and we win the group, it’s that simple. Cayman will be gunning for us again and we have to be mentally and physically prepared and we will be.”

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