Bermuda’s last sliver of hope in qualifying for the Under-19 World Cup in 2018 was crushed yesterday by unbeaten United States on a hot and breezy day at the Toronto Cricket Club.

The US won the toss and elected to bat, but were soon in trouble at 29 for two, with Rudi Butterfield taking a magnificent diving catch at first slip to get rid of US captain Arjun Patel, battling at No 3, for a two-ball duck off Nirobi Smith Mills.

First-change bowlers Dean Simons and Jabari Darrell kept up the pressure reducing Canada to 58 for four in the 17th over, but contributions from the middle and late order batsmen Gaurav Patanker (50), Vivek Narayan (34), Karthk Gattepalli (24) and Sahil Patel (22) helped to revive the innings by the time the last wicket fell by way of a run out on the final ball of the 50 overs with the score on 220. Captain Nzari Paynter, with two for 44, and Smith Mills, with two for 55, were Bermuda’s top wicket takers.

In reply, Bermuda lost Jabari Darrell (12) early, but fellow opener Marcus Scotland (15) and Paynter (17) steadied the innings with a second wicket partnership of 34 runs in ten overs to take the score to 50 for one.

However, the introduction of spin turned the match on its head as Bermuda lost nine wickets for 52 runs with most of the batsmen offering easy catches. Cameron Jeffers offered late token resistance with 12 not out.

Man of the match Sahil Patel took five for 20 as Bermuda capitulated to 102 all out, losing by 118 runs. The inability to handle disciplined spin bowling had featured in all three matches.

Bermuda head coach Clay Smith said: “It’s something that we have worked tremendously hard at to be quite honest but looking at today it’s almost a reflection of our cricket in Bermuda isn’t it?

“The fields at home are small so players don’t look to work the ball in the gaps. They can take a swipe, mis-hit it and it will still carry for six. It’s not just at this level but at the senior level as well where we’re working to try to get players to rotate the strike. It was very unfortunate today as I thought we got off to a very respectable start.”

Bermuda return to Maple Leaf Cricket Club today to play their final match against Canada with only pride to play for.