USA crowned Americas Champions

The United States were crowned Americas Cricket Champions on Saturday 16th March in Buenos Aires without a ball being bowled, officially, on the last day of competition. Overnight storms had renedered the grounds unplayable, and the only entertainment for the many spectators who made their way to the Belgrano Athletic Club was a hastily arranged 15 over a side bash between Argentina and Bermuda which, for the record, Argentina won. The two key games of the day were abandoned earlier in the day. The USA went into the day two points clear of Canada and the Cayman Islands, with their unbeaten four game run in the tournament. Earlier in the week they had accounted for World Cup qualifiers and defending champions Canada, while Canada had ended the Caymans three match winning streak the day before.

The final day held various permutations. Had the USA beaten the Cayman Islands at Lomas, they would have won the title in straughtforward fashion wiht full points from their five games. However, had the Caymans beaten them, and Canada beaten the Bahamas at Hurlingham, that would have meant a three-way tie at the top of the table.

With each team having beaten one of the others, and all three teams having won the same amount of games, they would have had to be ultimately separated by net run-rate. Going into the final day, the Cayman Islands had the best run-rate. Had Canada beaten the Bahamas, they would have had to do so in convincing fashion in order to boost their net run rate above that of the Caymans. Had Canada lost to the Bahamas, and the Caymans beaten the USA, the Caymans would simply have won the title by virtue of their victory on the day over the USA.

Ultimately, rain, which wreaked havoc with the tournament throughout, had the last wet laugh, and an exciting finale was denied to players and spectators alike. Even the so-called dead game between Argentina and Bermuda held some interest.

Argentina needed to beat Bermuda, and the Bahamas lose to Canada, to create a three-way tie between the three bottom placed teams, which woud have again boiled down to net run-rate separation to ascertain positions 4 through 6.

In the end, it was perhaps a minor miracle that local organisers managed to find the facilities and venues for the completion of at least four rounds of the tournament. It is sad, though, that many months of hard work were not rewarded with a clear week of weather, as this was the only factor that disrupted an otherwise excellent and smoothly-run event. The heavy rain which fell on the first two days of the competition also meant that playing conditions at the various grounds were nowhere near the standard expected by the organisers before the commencement of the event. This resulted in somewhat low-scoring contests and the expected festival of cricket never materialised.

On the positive side, the tournament showed what could be achieved from within the small cricketing community of Argentina, when many willing hands, minds and bodies worked so very hard to make the tournament successful, also bearing in mind the uncertain build-up to the event due the instability within the country.

On the rain-affected wickets and grounds, batting and run-scoring was always difficult, and bowlers dominated the event. There were no centuries, and the highest individual score was 83 not out by Faoud Bacchus for the USA against the Bahamas. Good batting performances were restricted to fighting half-centuries rather than flowing batting, but a local highlight is that only one player features twice on the top ten list of highest individual scores, that being Argentina's Donny Forrester, with scores of 63 and 55.

There were many fine bowling performances throughout the tournament, the picks perhaps being Kevin Sandher's 5 for 11 off 10 overs for Canada against Bermuda, and David Wight of the Cayman Islands taking 5 for 12 in 10, also against Bermuda. The 6 for 51 returned by Gary Armstrong of the Bahamas against the USA should also not be overlooked amongst a host of fine bowling performances.

At the end of the tournament, Ryan Bovell of the Cayman Islands was named Player of the Tournament, and although these type of awards always incite much discussion, and there are always many candidates, Bovell's nomination was thoroughly deserving of a player who performed consistently throughout the event.

The next Americas Cricket Championship is due to be held in Bermuda in 2004, and all the teams have some work to do ahead of that event. Hopefully the weather will be kinder on that occasion, but also hopefully the spirit that prevailed amongst the nations of the Americas during the Buenos Aires 2002 event will prevail.

A memorable event from all perspectives, and well done to the Argentine Cricket Association for hosting the event as successfully as they did, even with the natural odds that were loaded against them.