SUHARRIL Fetri Shuib and Shafiq Sharif produced an incredible 96-run stand to help Malaysia beat the United States by five wickets for a first win in the World Cricket League Division Three yesterday.
Having lost to Singapore in Thursday's opening match, Malaysia recovered from a slow start to claim a first-ever win over the Americans in three meetings at the Bayuemas Oval in Klang.
Malaysia were struggling at 93-5 having restricted the US to 186-8 in 50 overs before Suharril (55) and wicket keeper Shafiq (59) began their unbeaten partnership.
With 13 runs required from the last 18 balls, Shafiq smashed a mammoth six, his first of the match, off Steve Massiah to bring Malaysia within four runs of the win.
It was then Suharril’s turn to find the boundary to bring Malaysia to 189-5 with 10 balls to spare.
Team manager Ahmad Feisal Ahmad Tajuddin praised the poise shown by Suharril and Shafiq after the early collapse.
“It was quite tight at the end and after losing the first five wickets, we thought not again,” he said.
“We had a talk with Suharril and Shafiq and told them not to worry about the Duckworth-Lewis score, because it looked like it was going to rain at one point and we were far behind, but that they had better stay out there till the end.”
The pair helped repair the damage after openers Anwar Arudin was dismissed for 15 and Sheikh Nasir Shafiq run out for eight.
Captain Ahmad Faiz Mohammad Noor scored 32 runs off 53 balls but his exit then saw Suhan Kumar Alagaratnam and Aminuddin Ramly fall for nought and seven respectively.
Earlier, Suresh Navaratnam, Shahrulnizam Yusof and Khizar Hayat Durrani made up for the injury absence of Hassan Ghulam Mohammad by taking two wickets each.
Former national skipper Suresh removed both American openers Sushil Nadkarni and Steven Taylor for nine and naught respectively before Shahrulnizam and Pavandeep Singh accounted for the next three batsmen, leaving the US tottering on 81-5.
No 8 Adil Bhatti rallied the Americans with a quick-fire 42 off 21 balls to help the US post a competitive total.
Nepal dismissed Bermuda for 100 to win by eight wickets while Uganda edged Singapore by one run to remain the only unbeaten side in the league.
FIXTURES — Tomorrow: Malaysia v Bermuda (Kinrara), Nepal v Singapore (Bayuemas), Uganda v United States (STC). Matches start at 10.15am. By Devinder Singh