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Leverock set to open again

Smash hit: Leverock played an aggressive innings and the ICC Americas coach is keen to stick with his top order

Kamau Leverock looks set to face the new ball for the second time in as many outings when the Bermuda all-rounder and his ICC Americas colleagues play host team Barbados Pride in the West Indies Cricket Regional Super 50 today.

“He’s doing so well up there that we don’t really want to tinker with it,” Henry Osinde, the ICC Americas assistant coach, said on the eve of his team’s next match, which takes place at the 3W’s Oval in Cave Hill.

The Bermudian stroked a fluent 26 from 27 balls opening the innings during his team’s tournament opener against the Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners, which they lost by seven wickets at the Windward Cricket Ground in St Philip on Thursday.

His aggressive innings included three boundaries before he was the fourth wicket to fall, caught at third man attempting an upper cut off the bowling of Antiguan seam bowler Nino Henry.

“Kamau is looking good, he is striking the ball well,” Osinde added. “The last game he was in there for a long time and struck the ball very well.

“He’s putting his authority on the game and he is not afraid of the challenge of taking on the quicks.”

Leverock went into the match in good form having hammered a polished 54 in a tournament warm up match against a Babardos select squad two days previously.

“That was a brilliant fifty, a very good innings,” Osinde said. “He struck the ball quite well and surprised the boys from Barbados.”

The ICC Americas were restricted to 181 for nine against the CCC after being sent in to bat, losing their first five wickets for 53 runs.

The CCC replied with 184 for three to reach their target with 26 balls to spare.

“On the pitch we played on [on Thursday] whoever lost the toss was going to struggle because it was a green top with a lot of grass, so the toss was always going to be crucial,” Osinde said.

“What damage you suffered from the new ball was always going to determine the innings, and they took our top four for 39, so we had to play catch up.

“But we had our moments and if we could have taken them it could have been closer than it looks.”

The ICC Americas team, made up of players from the United States, Canada and Bermuda, will be looking to turn their fortunes around against Barbados today.

“We are looking to bounce back and the most important thing we want the guys is to first feel they can compete here and secondly to stay in the game,” Osinde said. “Don’t give so much separation in the game like letting a team get away and score 300 or you come in and lose four wickets for 39 like we did yesterday.

“We want to stay in every game. Somebody will crash, but if we don’t stay in the game or lose so many early wickets we will always play catch up, which is not ideal.”