Crucial half-centuries from captain Chetan Suryawanshi and Manpreet Singh rescued Singapore from an early hole to take them to 204, which was easily defended in a rousing 63-run win over Uganda.
Uganda won the toss and sent Singapore in as Frank Nsubuga again heaped pressure on the opposition bowling offspin with the new ball, ending with figures of 2 for 16 including five maidens as Singapore. When Riazat Ali Shah struck on the final ball of the Powerplay, Singapore’s top three were gone with just 36 on the board.
But Suryawanshi steadied things by dominating a 56-run stand with Rezza Gavnavi, who blocked out at one end to make 10 off 53 balls while Suryawanshi counterattacked from his side to eventually finish with 57 off 61 balls, including four fours and three sixes. The medium pace of Kenneth Waiswa and Deus Muhumuza eventually claimed both to put Singapore back in a hole at 115 for 5 after 32.
However, Manpreet held down the fort with 59 off 79 balls. He anchored the rest of the innings, doing an excellent job of shepherding the tail into the final over before he was last man out slogging across the line to be bowled for Riazat’s third wicket.
The Oman house of horrors continued for Roger Mukasa as he was the second of three Uganda top order batsmen to fall for a duck inside the first five overs to leave their chase reeling at 8 for 3. Ronak Patel and Muhumuza fell on back-to-back balls to end the 11th and start the 12th as Uganda slipped to 21 for 5. Uganda’s last recognized batsman, Dinesh Nakrani, fell in the 17th to make it 35 for 6.
Singapore were on the verge of a massive net run rate boost for the tournament tiebreaker until Kenneth Waiswa showed some spin down the order, cracking 61 off 63 balls. But Riazat was the only one to offer him any support with 16 as nobody else crossed double-figures. New ball medium pacer Janak Prakash came back for a late spell and dismissed Nsubuga for the eighth wicket to claim his third of the day before legspinner Anantha Krishna knocked over the rest of the tail with two more as Uganda eventually subsided for 141 in 42 overs.
USA v Denmark
The Bajan pair of Hayden Walsh Jr and Aaron Jones dug USA out of a deep hole at 87 for 5 with a 131-run partnership that put their side back on the path to victory in a hard-fought 16-run win over Denmark. The Danes continued the trend of sides winning the toss and losing the match, becoming the ninth team in ten matches to do so at Division Three after sending USA in.
USA got off to a methodical start behind Jaskaran Malhotra and Monank Patel as Denmark opened with spin from both ends. It resulted in 42 dot balls in the Powerplay and though USA reached 61 for 0 in 15 overs, the dot ball pressure from Denmark’s spinners continued to build until both openers cracked.
Monank was stumped for 22 charging Bashir Shah while Malhotra was runout for 39 two overs later after being turned back by Steven Taylor on a ball pushed to point. Three more wickets fell in quick succession as USA’s slide reached 26 for 5 by the time Walsh Jr and Jones came together in the 26th over.
The match was evenly balanced at the second drinks break at 134 for 5 in 37 overs before pair took 70 off the next nine overs to swing momentum USA’s way. Walsh Jr eventually fell for 57 scooping Jino Jojo to short fine leg to end the stand before Jones was cleaned up by a yorker from Jonas Henriksen on the final ball of the 49th but seven more runs off the final over took USA to 230 for 8.
Denmark gave USA a serious scare in the chase, reaching an assured 46 for 0 by the end of the Powerplay behind Taranjit Bharaj and Hamid Shah. But Timil Patel struck a double-blow to start the 11th. The first of his four wickets was a leg before decision to captain Hamid for 12 that appeared to be going down leg.
A monumental blow was struck on the very next ball though when Timil had Freddie Klokker edging a googly first ball to Taylor at slip. Klokker came into the match with 404 runs in six matches v USA at an average of 101 including two unbeaten centuries and with USA’s greatest batting nemesis gone USA became favorites once again.
Bharaj and Abdul Hashmi fought hard with an 87-run partnership to keep USA sweating in the field on the hottest day of the tournament. It took the return of Timil to break the stand as Hashmi fiddled across the line and missed to be given leg before for 48. Bharaj seemed set to go past three figures but fell in the next over to Saurabh Netravalkar as a leading edge ballooned to mid-off for a simple catch for 69.
Denmark’s tail wagged valiantly before Ali Khan’s direct hit from the long-off boundary in the 49th put USA one wicket from victory. With 17 to win off the final over, Ali clinched the match off the third ball by inducing a skier off Jonas Henriksen to extra cover.