By Orin Davidson
Nov. 17th, 2008
A brilliant 90 by Carl Wright was not enough to prevent the United States losing to Trinidad and Tobago in their second completed game in the West Indies Cricket Board WICB Cup limited overs championship Monday in Guyana.

Wright stoked 90 attractive runs which amounted close to half of America's total before Trinidad cruised to victory by six wickets at the Enmore Ground.

Taking first strike, United States scored 186 for seven in their allotted 50 overs but Trinidad overcame an early wicket loss to post 187-6 in 38 overs, thanks to fine half centuries by Darren Ganga and Adrian Barrat.

Barrath the 19 year old opening batsman made 66 and paved the way for Ganga, the T&T captain to compile a topscore of 79.

The loss was the second straight for America who went down to Barbados in their first game while the second scheduled fixture against Jamaica, was rained out on Saturday.

But it was an improved display by the weakened U.S. team which is missing key batsmen, Steve Massiah, Sushil Nadkarnie, Sudesh Dhaniram and Rashard Marshall. Also top bowler Kawaraja Shuja, who like the others, is sidelined by his MBA commitments.

Wright, the powerful Jamaica-born right-hander found some of his best form, hitting a number fours in an innings which was by far the highlight of the entire match, batting at number three instead of his accustomed position as opener. Aditha Thygarajan continued his good showing for the U.S., this time with the ball, bagging three wickets for 30 runs off seven overs. He followed up on his topscore in the team's opening game.

Young promising batsman/wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson also showed some promise, scoring a useful 31 not out batting at number seven. But none of the other batsmen provided any resistance with the next best score comprising 15 each by fast bowler Timroy Allen, who was not out and Thyagarajan. Captain Orlando Baker who opened only contributed 13 with fellow opener Gowkaran 'Juicy' Roopnarine being removed for nought. Sixteen-year-old batting talent Gregory Sewdial also made nought, coming in at number eight.

Thyagarajan dismissed the two Trinidad and Tobago topscorers as they wrapped up the victory with 12 overs remaining.

With no chance of advancing to the semi-finals after three rounds, the U.S. team will be hoping to carry over their improved performance and score an upset win over the Combined Colleges team Tuesday at the Everest ground.