Friday, March 5, 2010

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Bahamas still undefeated in ICC tourney By Kelsie Johnson ~ NG Sports Reporter ~ kelsie@nasguard.com: Sporting a 2-0 win/loss record doesn't give The Bahamas' men's national cricket team the comfort they need at the Pepsi International Cricket Council (ICC) Americas Region Division II Tournament. In fact, the team's biggest test will be held today when they take on Panama at 9:30 a.m. The Bahamas is in a must-win situation if they want to prevail as champions. Even though both teams have perfect win/loss records, president of the Bahamas Cricket Association (BCA) Greg Taylor is confident that The Bahamas will walk off the field victorious. He said: "When we win this tournament we would be going to Bermuda, in May to play in Division I. By virtue of winning this tournament we will go back into the World Cricket League which is Division A. That will be played in Kuwait in December of this year. "The chances of us winning are looking good. On Wednesday we had the young Mark Taylor open the batting for The Bahamas. He scored 141 runs for The Bahamas. Jonathan Barry, he scored 117, so The Bahamas' team is looking good. We have strong solid players and we are looking to do well. I have seen a lot of improvement in the teams. In fact, all of the teams that are here, have improved, especially Panama, The Bahamas and Suriname. There is a lot of improvement between these three, so the competition is going to be fierce. For us, we just want to get in on the pitch and take the bat to them and take revenge for losing in 2008." If The Bahamas is successful in its bid, the team can celebrate its feat on Friday, instead of Saturday, when they are scheduled to play Suriname. A win over Panama and a loss to Suriname will still give The Bahamas a qualifying spot. This is based on the net run-rate, which The Bahamas has the highest of all teams. Teams competing in the tournament are host country The Bahamas, Panama, Suriname, Turks and Caicos and Brazil. As of Wednesday, The Bahamas sat in first, followed by Panama, Suriname then Turks and Caicos and Brazil. "The tournament is going well so far, it has been exciting," said Taylor. "All of the teams which are participating they are doing well, they are playing to the best of their abilities. So far we've had some exciting matches. We have had high scoring affairs. Teams like The Bahamas, Panama and Suriname, they put up some huge totals. As you know, The Bahamas and Panama are undefeated. Suriname has lost one so it is going to boil down to the last match on Saturday and The Bahamas has Panama tomorrow (Friday). We are looking to beat Panama and stay undefeated in the tournament. "Competition wise, it is at the level we were expecting. We had Brazil who came up from Division III, that was their first time competing at that level. Now they are at a higher level, but they haven't scored as much runs. Every time they played they are getting better and better. Suriname brought a couple of new players, and Panama has strengthen their team, so it is going to be a strong competition between Panama, Suriname and The Bahamas." Despite the standings, the leading batsman and bowler hail from Suriname and Brazil respectively. Statistically, The Bahamas has the second and third best batsmen in the tournament, and the fifth best bowler. Friday February 05, 2010