By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas men’s national cricket team set out a goal to advance to the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Men’s T-20 World Cup Regional Americas Qualifier and they did just that at the subregional qualifiers hosted in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from December 6-16.

The national team clinched the third qualification spot, wrapping up the first phase of qualification with a 6-2 win/loss record in a nine-team field. 

Bermuda closed out the subregioanal qualifier with an unblemished 7-0 win/loss record, followed by the Cayman Islands with a 6-2 win/loss record.

Greg Taylor, president of the Bahamas Cricket Association (BCA), commended the efforts of Team Bahamas as they bounced back from a dismal fifth place finish at last year’s qualifiers. “It is extremely wonderful. I am so elated that words cannot describe it. This year I saw a completely different set of players. These players last year folded up because of how the wickets were playing.

“This year I have seen them fight tooth and nail to win games which they did. The bowling was exceptionally well and that is what won a lot of games for us,” he said.

Team Bahamas, captained by Marc Taylor, reeled off four straight wins against Brazil, the host country Argentina, Belize and Panama to kickstart the competition.

The visiting team secured the final qualification spot with a victory by 24 runs against Mexico on Monday. The team won the matchup 95/9-71/10.

Kervon Hinds, who was dealing with a nagging hamstring injury, was in top form for Team Bahamas. He scored more than half of the runs for the team with 48 in total. Festus Benn got three wickets for 11 runs in four overs.

Prior to the game against Mexico, The Bahamas came up short against Bermuda. The latter won the matchup by 62 runs (179/4-117/9).

The Bahamas’ only two losses of the subregional qualifier came against Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

The national team will now make preparations for the regional final set for the summer of 2025 where they will join Canada who received a bye due to participation in the previous T20 World Cup. 

The winner of the last qualification round will meet the United States and West Indies in the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka from February to March in 2026.

Taylor said Team Bahamas will get some reps in prior to the regional qualifier at North American Cricket Championships next April. 

“Basically, those four teams that will be vying for the one spot for the World Cup will be playing in the Cayman Islands. We will have another bite at the apple to see how these teams play together, especially the USA who is already in the competition and Canada who we will be going up against. That is an opportunity to really improve on what we have,” he said, adding that it is up to the team to continue to make progress and train to be successful at the regional final.