Forward, Not Finished: USA Women a Mixed Bag in Opener vs. Bangladesh

Aditiba Chudasama’s crew took a step forward on Sunday, but that only showed they still have more work to do.

The USA women dropped their opening game of the T20 World Cup Qualifier in Nepal to Bangladesh, a 22 run defeat that feels like a missed opportunity despite Bangladesh being a heavy favorite.

The power play was decisively Bangladesh as the favorites in the group came out firing against a bowling attack that was missing an injured Tara Norris. Dilara Atker hit 17 runs in the first three overs before Ella Claridge made a tough catch ranging to her left to sit the opener down and get Maahi Madhavan her second international wicket. Bangladesh was 54/1 after the first six overs and looked in control.

The second phase, however, belonged to the US women.

Bangladesh went 43 balls without a boundary as Saanvi Immadi and Taranum Chopra worked to staunch the run rate and Vaghela pounced for two wickets after the power play. She got Juairiya Ferdous to hole out to Chetna Pagydyala at long on after the fielder had put in some great ground work to save boundaries the previous few deliveries, then got Nigar Sultana Joty - the #17 batter in T20Is - to feather an outside edge into the waiting hands of Claridge.

But the spinners couldn’t dislodge the fourth-wicket partnership that followed, and by the time Chudasama and Ritu Singh came in on the next change, the shackles were off. Sharmin Akhter and Sobhana Mostary put on a devastating 63 run partnership that got Bangladesh back on track for a plausibly defendable score. Madhavan returned in the 17th and got Motary to reach out at poke a wider delivery away to deep point for a waiting Chopra, but the runs continued. Then she got Akter to hole out in the 19th over and what looked headed for a 170+ score was reined into a 159 that felt chaseable if the USA could get off to a decent start in the power play.

They, uh, did not.

Pagydyala and Disha Dhingra got off to a painfully slow start that mustered just four runs off the first 12 legal deliveries, one of which stemmed from a wide in the second over. Dhingra in particular seemed to struggle reading the length out of the bowler’s hand and was late on quite a few deliveries including a belt-high full toss that she failed to punish. By the time the pair accelerated, they were well behind the required rate and finished the power play at 37/0. At the moment where they had Bangladesh on the hook, the young openers got tentative, and it cost them when Bangladesh’s veteran spinners got the ball.

Dhingra fell in the seventh over for 23 off 22, and Claridge never got going before getting out cheaply on a second attempt at a ramp shot behind square on the leg side. Her first effort was poorly hit and nearly caught by a ranging Marufa Akter at short third, but the fielder moved finer and sprung the rather obvious trap two balls later. Vaghela lasted two balls before knifing one back to the keeper, and Pagydyala lofted a shot back to short third to end her day on a respectable 36 off 31. The chase was over from there, although Ritu Singh played some valiant shots on her way to a 33 from 13 that was sorely needed earlier in the innings.

Put in perspective, the United States was competitive against the #10 team in the world despite a clear deficit in experience and depth in a game they were expected to lose. There are still weaknesses in this young roster that may prove tough to fix in the course of a week, but they have more cause for optimism as they step into the ring with Namibia on Tuesday, which was always destined to be a must-win game.

He didn’t get to defend it, but another glimpse of progress came for Nitish Sudini and the USA U19 men on Sunday morning.

The Georgia product hammered an unbeaten 117 off 133 balls for the USA’s first-ever century in Youth ODIs and the first for an American in a World Cup in any level or format. Coming to the crease at 40/5, he battened down the hatches and formed a stout 103-run partnership with Adit Kappa for the seventh wicket that took the squad from what looked like a DOA innings to their largest total ever in YODIs.

Given the circumstances, Sudini’s knock was borderline heroic. Utkarsh Srivastava went for his second duck of the tournament and never looked comfortable against New Zealand’s pacers. Amogh Arepally got out for a duck after Flynn Morey ambushed him with a short ball that flummoxed the right-hander. Amrinder Gill and Sahil Garg failed to get a start yet again. Someone had to deliver something massive, and Sudini came on at the start of the 11th over and batted to the end. He survived a couple of drops to grind out his ton, but that’s just the nature of the beast.

We’ll never know if they could have held onto it: a downpour hit moments before Ritvik Appidi bowled the first ball of the second over, and play never resumed. Now the USA is in a corner: They either need to beat Bangladesh while New Zealand gets no more than one point OR get another no result while New Zealand loses to both India and Bangladesh. The forecast in Harare calls for rain in the afternoon on Friday and heavy rain and thunderstorms in the evening.

If the USA lads want to extend their stay in Africa past next week, the goal is still the same: just win one. It just has to be against a team that has won this tournament before.

Meanwhile, the men’s senior team is in training camp for the T20 World Cup, which is less than three weeks away, and all indications are the on-field business is progressing well.

Batting seventh for the USA men in their second warm-up match against Sri Lanka Emerging, Mohammad Mohsin stepped in and provided a stout 33 off 15 with a pair of sixes, teaming up with Shadley van Schalkwyk at the end to deliver 62 runs from the seven and eight spots in the order to follow on from 25 (16) from Shehan Jayasuriya. Then, with the ball, Mohsin and van Schalkwyk delivered again, with Mohsin going 2/30 in four overs and van Schalkwyk taking a tidy 3/19 in three.

The trio are interesting because a.) they all have a realistic shot at making the roster, and b.) the most outstanding performances on their resumes over the last 12 months were in Minor League Cricket. Jayasuriya had a great run with the Silicon Valley Strikers in a return to form after being dropped from MLC this year, and Mohsin and van Schalkwyk were the only bowlers in the league this season to take both a four’fer AND a five’fer. The notion that MiLC can’t or shouldn’t provide fringe roster opportunities is down more to the branding and optics of a league called “Minor League Cricket” than the caliber of player at the top end of the one truly national domestic championship in the United States. That’s the way it works everywhere else in the world, and just because our national competition structures are still in a primordial state doesn’t mean it can’t work that way here.

Of course, Mohsin has to get approval from the Indian government to enter the country first. The team is still waiting for that confirmation - the philosopher Petty once said that’s the hardest part.

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