By Grockle
October 8 2023

Storm Phillipe nearly gave Bermuda the title by default when it swept down on the Island and put paid to Day 5 in its entirety.  Canada v Cayman Islands and Bermuda v Panama at White Hills were non starters, not a ball was bowled.  Day 6 looked to be going the same way as the Cayman v Panama 'Wooden Spoon' game at the National Stadium in the morning was also called off with the end of the wicket being 'wet' and rain flying in in waves and then disappearing as quickly.  Would the title decider go the same way?

Hamilton at 12 noon on the Saturday suggested a game would take place and then 10 minutes later that it wouldn't as storms of squally rain came across the capital in lines.  The good thing was there was a LOT of wind so the rain kept going and the ground dried pretty quickly. Caymans v Panama did not take place though the toss was delayed in the hope for nearly 3 hours.  Finally it was called off without a ball bowled leaving Panama in fourth place and the Caymans in third.

The 2:30 starting time for the Canada v Bermuda decider came and went as the players got ready on the outfield, supporters tried to keep their gazebos from disappearing from the ground and the umpires and groundstaff stood at the wicket discussing things.  If the game did not take place then the home side would take the tournament because of their 4 wins, two games called off and 10 points.  Canada would have lost 1 won 3 and had two called off which left them with 8 points.  Not a particularly satisfying result as the Canadians, after their loss to the hosts on Day 1, had dispatched their opponents in pretty decisive manner and had the far superior NRR by the last day.

At 3pm the announcement came that the weather was going to allow an 18 over game at 3:30, Canada had won the toss and had chosen to bat first.  The equation was simple.  If Bermuda won they took the title with an undefeated record.  If Canada won they took the title because they would have equal points with Bermuda but a significantly superior Net Run Rate.

Aaron Johnson and Navneet Dhaliliwal came out to face Cejay Outerbridge and Kemau Leverock.  Bermuda needed to see the back of Johnson early and Outerbridge nearly provided his wicket with a very aggressive first over which only provided a top edged uncontrolled boundary.  Leverock took a little longer to get into his stride and Canada were off and running from the end of over 2.  However Outerbridge did have succes in removing Canada's top run scorer 2 balls into the 5th when Johnson edged one to Sabir and Bermuda had a wicket at 28.  In came Singh who had a bit of form from the middle of the week game.  He and Dhaliwal doubleD the score by the 10th when Sabir removed him courtesy of the safe hands of Dominic Trott.  With the heavy duty swirling wind, balls in the air were very difficult to hold on to and there was more than one difficult drop in the Canadian innings - it was an advantage for the batting side and a constant problem for the fielders.

Singhs departure brought in Thaker but the concentration of the Bermudan bowlers, Rawlins, Brangman, Sabir and Burgess kept the opposition in check and when Thaker went caught by Manders off the bowling of Brangman for 21 at the end of the 15th the score was still 5 below 100.  In came Kirton with the usual job of making runs in the dying overs and when Dhaliwal went without adding to the total for an excellent 45 caught by Douglas off Sabir with the next ball, he was joined by his usual partner in this task Heyliger.  In the 3 overs left, this pair once again took to the job and added 37 in 17 balls (Kirton 26 from 10 Heyliger 10 from 7 with 1 wide).  Canada ended on 132 for 4 and Bermuda must have looked at the score and thought it was definitely 'gettable'. 

By this time the Bermudan crowd had grown as the news that the game was on went around the place so the home side had a hell of a lot of support as they took the field to clinch a World Cup dream.  Kemau Leverock and Tre Manders came out, both in form and both having shown their ability in earlier games.  People felt that if one or two of the top four got a start this game was very possible won.  They were facing the bowling attack of the series with Keleem Sana and Harsh Thaker starting proceedings. The run rate was just over 6 and the weather was not really expected to interfere

It did not start well as Manders was picked up by Johnson off the bowling of Thaker only 11 bAlls in and with only 2 on the board. Terryn Fray replaced his team mate, not to the particular approval of the fans who feel that he is not the man to push a score along in a shortest form game.  Leverock looked to take control of the innings and set Bermuda up, all Fray had to do really was get him on strike. He was pushing it along at a run a ball when he was caught and bowled by Dutta at the start of the 10th over.

At that point the batting side was behind the run rate but they had enough wickets in hand and bats to change that situation.  Delray Rawlins was the next in and expectations of him were high.  Those expectations lasted 5 balls until Dutta had the Bermudan skipper caught by Johnson again and the innings stuttered at 55 for 3 needing 78 from 8 overs.

Bermuda went to their best batting option in these situations and Allan Douglas came out to put this back on track. They took 8 off the next over but Fray departed at the end of it for a solid 30 stumped ofF Zafar looking to push for a second six in the over.  Sabir came in to help Douglas push it along and by the 14th they had moved it considerably to 85 when they took a single.  Sabir was looking for 2 but Douglas was not looking and the next ball did for him as he top edged Gordon to Heyliger for a 13 ball 22 and cut the legs off the Bermuda innings when he should not have faced that ball. 

85 for 5 halfway through the 14th was not the end of it but the hope had started to struggle against the situation.  Zeko Burgess is a big strong bat and there was still a chance but when Sabir went caught behind off Sana half way through the next over with only 2 added the number of partners was starting to run out and their capacity to push the score along at pace was decreasing.  

Burgess went to the hands of Kirton off the bowling of Gordon in the 16th and 90 was still a target.  Brangman went first ball with 90 still not achieved and the game was effectively over.  Sana, the death bowler of the tournament finished it off, bowling Smith with the second ball of the 17th and having last man Outerbridge LBW with his fourth ball.  All out for 93 and 39 runs short courtesy of Man of the Match Kaleem Sana with 3 for 4 in 3.5 overs.

Bermuda fell short, Canada took the title and the place in the T20 World Cup for the first time.  The small nation came up short but played some very good cricket in the process for a nation of 60,000.  The Canadians were the more professional and focussed side and deserved to take the top spot.

Great week good fights and storming places to watch the game.  Come to Bermuda, you'll like it.  Except if you have to spend money - it's not a cheap place to be.