By Lawrence Trott from The Royal Gazette

Bermuda suffered a heavy defeat in their second ICC World T20 Qualifier against Cayman Islands today, going down by 63 runs in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Batting first, Cayman posted 165 for five before dismissing Bermuda for 103 in 18.4 overs to record their second straight victory in the triangular tournament.

Bermuda, who scored 209 for seven during a 124-run win over Argentina the previous day, found themselves chasing a challenging total after solid batting in their middle order enabled Cayman to score 84 runs in their last 7.2 overs.

All-rounder Troy Taylor, batting at No 5, was the top scorer for Cayman with 35 from 18 balls, with a four and three sixes, while openers Chad Hauptsfliech and Ainsley Hall scored 28 and 26, respectively. Ramon Sealy and Conroy Wright kept the score ticking in the later overs as Cayman added 30 runs in the last two overs.

Charles Trott, captain Dion Stovell, Kamau Leverock, Jacobi Robinson and Janeiro Tucker all claimed a wicket each. Trott and Stovell went for 39 and 35 runs in their four overs while Leverock was the most economical, giving up just 14 in his four overs.

“Cayman played a really good game,” admitted Clay Smith, the Bermuda coach.

“Today was one of those days where they came with a game plan and played exceptionally well. Sometimes teams have those types of days and today they came with a game plan to bat first and to put us under pressure.

“They did what we do to other teams, post a good total and put the other team under scoreboard pressure. They bowled and fielded exceptionally well today and deserved to win.

“I have to take my hat off to them, they outplayed us today. My players got caught up looking at the total rather than focusing on how we were going to go about getting the total and it is a lesson to be earned.”

Smith added: “As I said before we have a lot of youngsters and new players in our team still adapting to international cricket and this was a really, really good test for them. Now it’s about character, going back to the drawing board.

“We have a training session tomorrow and we look forward to playing Cayman again and hopefully we get a better result.”

Needing to score at eight runs an over to reach their target, Bermuda’s opening pair added 29 in 3.5 overs before Bascome was caught behind for five.

Leverock departed two overs later with only ten runs added to the total and when Terry Fray and captain Dion Stovell departed in the space of three balls in the seventh over, Bermuda were starting to wobble at 53 for four.

Wickets fell regularly after that with Stephen Bremar dismissed with the score 65 for five and Janeiro Tucker seven runs later. Tucker and Leverock were the joint top scorers for Bermuda, both hitting 22.

Leverock, who scored 93 against Argentina, faced 18 balls and hit three fours while Tucker faced 19 balls and hit two fours.

Tre Manders, replacing Macai Simmons in the only change from the team that beat Argentina the day before, added 12 in the middle order while Fray was the only other batsman in double figures with 14.

Bermuda were undone by impressive bowling spells from off spinners Alessandro Morris and Kevon Bazil, and seam bowler Troy Taylor, who shared the ten wickets between them.

Morris took four for 21 from four overs, while Taylor and Basil had three for 17 and three for 13, respectively.

Argentina and Cayman play again tomorrow before Bermuda face Argentina Friday and Cayman on Saturday to decide the two teams who advance to the next round of regional qualifying.