Maple Leaf North-West Ground, King City (Cayman Islands won toss): Cayman Islands beat Bermuda by nine wickets

Bermuda’s slim chance of qualifying for the T20 World Cup were extinguished on Saturday after they suffered a surprising defeat by Cayman Islands in their penultimate game of the tournament.

Ramon Sealy hit five sixes in a row off Bermuda spinner Derrick Brangman in the twelfth over as Cayman chased down Bermuda’s target of 139 in a match reduced to 14 overs per side because of rain.

Bermuda’s loss means they now have nothing to play for on the last day of the tournament on Sunday, with their final opponents Canada now out of reach and looking forward to the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

Captain Terryn Fray lay the blame for this shock reversal squarely at the hands of the bowlers.

“It wasn’t great,” Fray said. “I think what we thought we scored a decent total but we took it for granted with our bowling.

“They punished some bowling decisions that we made. Sealy batted well but our bowlers didn’t bowl to the plan and it cost us.

“We were happy at the midway point but we could have got more runs if things had gone a little different. That is probably one of the best starts we’ve had so far but there are always two sides to the game. If the whole team takes accountability, we’ll be honest and say that we relaxed after making that total but if you don’t stay on top of it this is what happens.”

After being put in to bat by Cayman, Bermuda appeared to be given the perfect platform for victory by openers Alex Dore and Tre Manders.

Manders and Dore had both been starved of action in this tournament, with the former dropped after showing a lack of effort when run out against Canada in the opening game of the tournament and the latter missing out as others were preferred at the top of the order.

But back in the team the pair took the game to Cayman from the start. Manders, the more aggressive of the two, played some great attacking shots as Bermuda scored at ten an over for the first six overs.

Manders had more problems with the officials than the Cayman attack as umpire Zahid Bassarath insisted the Bermudian wore a helmet on a couple of occasions despite the batter’s protests.

It took 33 balls for Manders to reach his fifty but just four balls later he lost his partner after Alex Dore, on 22, mistimed a drive with the ball flying straight into the hands of Adrian Wright.

With regular opener, captain Terryn Fray, dropping down the order as Bermuda tried to record as big a win as possible to give them the slimmest of chances against Canada in the last game on Sunday, Delray Rawlins came in at No 3 and smashed the first ball he faced for six.

However, he lasted just a couple more balls as he flashed at a ball from Romeo Dunka and edged to wicketkeeper Ramon Sealy.

Onias Bascome, in at four, hit three massive sixes off spinner Anubhav Dhar as he scored 19 runs in the twelfth over and finished on 37 not out from 19 balls.

Bermuda’s total of 139 appeared enough but their bowlers never hit the spot, with Cayman losing just one wicket during their chase when Akshay Naidoo was trapped leg before by Dominic Sabir in the eighth over.

Naidoo’s departure paved the way for match-winner Sealy to come to the crease and he bludgeoned Bermuda’s bowlers all over the ground, scoring 46 off 22 balls, with 31 coming off a poor Brangman over.

Cayman reached their total with five balls to spare after picking up their second win of the tournament.