USA Cricket: Smit Patel’s second ODI fifty helps USA past Canada by 50 runs in Rotterdam

Smit Patel’s superb debut tour for USA continued with a top-score of 70 in USA’s total of 275 for 8 while Aaron Jones scored his 16th career limited overs half-century for USA in a 50-run win over Canada. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna in Rotterdam, Netherlands (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)

 

Smit Patel’s impressive ODI debut tour continued on Monday as the opener top-scored with 70 in USA’s total of 275 for 8 before Shadley van Schalkwyk’s 4 for 20 helped bowl out Canada in a 50-run USA win at VOC Rotterdam in USA’s third ODI of 2024-26 ICC Cricket World Cup League Two. Smit was named Player of the Match for his performance which included his second half-century against Canada of the tour after coming back from life-threatening injuries sustained in a serious car accident that nearly ended his cricket career. 

 

“After the accident, it was definitely very very tough to motivate myself every day to go get better, go through all the therapies and all the trainings, all the skill sessions I’ve put in,” Smit said after the win. “There’s a lot of hard work behind today’s performance.”

 

USA lost the toss and was sent in by Canada with one change made to the USA lineup as legspinner Yasir Mohammad came into the XI for his first match for USA since July 2022 in favor of pace bowler Juanoy Drysdale. Canada also handed out ODI debuts to Kanwarpal Tathgur and Rishiv Joshi.

 

Smit battled through a testing first 20 minutes of play in which he was hit on the arm by Dilon Heyliger and then the box by Kaleem Sana. He not only got past it but went on to cruise to a 55-ball half-century as part of a 125-run opening partnership with Steven Taylor. The pair capitalized on some incredibly sloppy Canadian fielding, with Taylor surviving four separate chances on 29, 42, 43 and 46, while the ground fielding was equally porous. The partnership finally came to an end when Taylor was given out for 46 off the bowling of Saad Bin Zafar after the umpire deemed Taylor to have inside edged a delivery off his pads which popped into the air for Canada wicketkeeper Shreyas Movva to claim a catch in the 27^th over. Smit fell two overs later when a missed sweep attempt to Saad resulted in a straightforward lbw decision to make it 130 for 2. 

 

USA captain Monank Patel and vice-captain Aaron Jones then teamed for a 59-run partnership for the third wicket to get USA’s innings back on track. Monank made 26 before he was bowled by Zafar attempting to heave a loopy delivery that pitched outside leg stump, tempting Monank to open up his front leg looking to clear the leg side before it spun back to clip leg stump. Zafar closed out his spell with a maiden in the following over but once he was out of the attack, USA began to accelerate once more as Milind Kumar milked ODI debutant left-arm medium pacer Rishiv Joshi for 11 runs in the 43^rd. Jones made his 16^th career half-century for USA, but fell two balls later for an even 50 attempting to scoop Heyliger over the keeper only to edge behind to make it 223 for 4. 

 

Milind was joined by Shayan Jahangir and continued to score at a brisk pace as another 11 runs were taken off Joshi in the 45^th. Milind was threatening to break Taylor’s record for USA’s fastest ODI half-century but fell for 47 off 30 balls slashing at a wider delivery from Sana to edge behind. Jahangir was cramped for room attempting a cut two balls later and fell in similar fashion for 10 to end the 49^th. Van Schalkwyk made 6 before confusion between him and Harmeet Singh resulted in van Schalkwyk runout by Movva on an attempted bye. Jessy Singh then fell for 3 on the final ball of the innings as a relay from Heyliger at long-on to Movva behind the stumps arrived in time to deny an attempted second run on a drive down the ground. 

 

Zafar was superb ending with figures of 3 for 30 in 10 overs while left-arm pacer Sana was also solid finishing with 2 for 39 in his 10. Heyliger was the only other wicket-taker on the day for Canada ending with 1 for 66 in his 10. Harsh Thaker’s offspin was unusually expensive returning 0 for 56. Joshi had a harsh adjustment to senior international cricket returning 0 for 77 in addition to dropping chance at mid-off not to mention a series of other misfields. 

 

USA quickly reduced Canada to 44 for 4 in reply. Tight new-ball bowling led by Nosthush Kenjige and Jessy Singh resulted in back-to-back maidens to begin the chase before Kenjige struck the first blow in the fifth, getting Aaron Johnson trapped lbw with an arm ball for 10. Jessy had fellow opener Dilpreet Singh Bajwa for 8 in the eighth over, bowled by a length ball. Van Schalkwyk replaced Jessy in the 10^th and bowled back-to-back maidens, the second of which included his first two wickets of the day. Canada captain Nicholas Kirton attempted to attack a length ball angled across him and edged behind for 9 before Thaker chipped a tame return catch back to van Schalkwyk four balls later.

 

Pargat Singh then joined with Movva to lead a remarkable recovery effort as the pair produced a 108-run stand for the fifth wicket. It could have been curtailed much earlier had Monank held onto a straightforward waist height chance at slip when Movva was on 12 off the bowling of Mohammad. Pargat drove Mohammad for a straight six in the 30^th before a single one ball later took him to a 63-ball half-century, but Mohammad switched ends and got his revenge to break the stand in the 35^th by inducing a skied drive from Pargat to Jahangir at deep cover for 72. 

 

Despite not being in the starting XI, Aaditya Varadarajan entered at No. 7 for Canada after ODI debutant Kanwarpal Tathgur exited the match following a concussion sustained during a diving effort while fielding in the first innings. Varadarajan and Movva kept Canada’s hopes of victory alive with a 51-run stand for the sixth wicket. But Movva perished for 68 attempting to attack Harmeet only to pick out Mohammad at long-on to make it 203 for 6. 

 

It sparked a steady collapse for Canada, who lost their last five wickets for 22 runs. Heyliger become Harmeet’s second victim two overs later, bowled for 2 attempting a slog sweep. Jessy returned and took his second wicket in the 46^th, getting Varadarajan to edge behind for 25. Jessy had to exit the match one ball later after Sana’s first ball at the crease was driven back into Jessy’s left ankle. But van Schalkwyk ended the match in the following over, starting the frame by getting Sana to drive to substitute fielder Utkarsh Srivastava at extra cover for 4 before bowling Joshi with a full length delivery for 3 for the final wicket. 

 

Aside from van Schalkwyk’s team-best figures, Jessy finished with 2 for 44 in 8.3 overs. Harmeet led USA’s spin attack on the day taking 2 for 38 in his 10 while Kenjige finished with 1 for 38 in seven overs. Mohammad bowled a full spell to claim 1 for 56 while Taylor conceded 0 for 23 in 3.3 overs of offspin. 

 

USA has a rest day on Tuesday before resuming action on Wednesday at VOC Rotterdam taking on the hosts Netherlands in the final ODI of the six-match tri-series.