USA beat Argentina; Brazil shock Canada on Day 3 of T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier

The bowlers dominated round three of the ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifiers on Friday (October 21) as USA's 15-year-old seamer Suhani Thadani and Nicole Monteiro of Brazil recorded career-best figures to take their sides to victory against Argentina and Canada respectively.



In the first match of the day, the USA got off to a shocking start when they lost Gargi Bhogle off the second ball of the match. Anika Kolan (26) and Shebani Bhaskar (29) then batted patiently to put together a partnership of 39 runs. However, Kolan's wicket forced a bit of a collapse as USA lost five wickets for just four runs with Constanza Sosa (3 for 19) and Alison Stocks (3 for 13) running through their middle order. Bhaskar and Geetika Kodail led USA past the 100 run mark before they were bowled out for 114 in the final over.



In reply, Argentina never got going after a slow start in the power play where they scored only 13 runs and lost the wicket of Lucia Taylor (3) who was Thadani's first scalp of the day. The 15-year-old then got on a bit of a role, dismissing Argentina captain Veronica Vasquez (6), Mariana Martinez (5) and Maria Castiñeiras (6) to finish with incredible figures of 4-1-6-4. Off-spinner Uzma Iftikar also chipped in with three wickets to limit Argentina for 58 runs by the end of the 20 overs.



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Elsewhere, Brazil’s Monteiro gave her side the perfect start by removing Miryam Khokhar (2) and Achini Perera (0) within the space of three balls. In her very next over, the diminutive pacer dismissed the half-centurion from Canada’s first match of the tournament, Divya Saxena, for just three runs. She finished with four wickets and was supported by Laura Cardosa who took three wickets as Canada were bowled out for 47 runs.



In the chase, Brazil were reduced to 11 for 2 in 7.2 overs before captain Roberta Moretti Avery steadied the ship with a patient knock of 17 runs. However, with the target in sight Brazil lost both Avery and Evelyn de Souza (0) in the 17th over when they were still eight runs away from the target, but Monteiro hit a four off Kamna Mirchandani to seal the second consecutive victory for Brazil.



Brief Scores:



United States of America 114 all out in 19.1 overs (Shebani Bhaskar 29, Anika Kolan 26; Alison Stocks 3-13) beat Argentina 58/8 in 20 overs (Suhani Thadani 4-6) by 56 runs.



Canada 47 all out in 19.5 overs (Sonali Vig 13, Mahrukh Imtiaz 13; Nicole Monteiro 4-6) lost to Brazil 49/5 in 18.1 overs (Roberta Moretti Avery 17; Hala Azmat 2-8) by five wickets.