Windians Propel U.S to Six-Nations Win

Guyanese batsmen Steve Massiah and Clayton Lambert have combined to propel the U.S. to a big win over Namibia in the ICC Six Nations Challenge competition being held in Sharjah.

In two matches so far, Massiah has posted scores of 72 and 92 not out while Lambert's two half centuries have helped prop up the U.S. middle order.

Brief scores:

U.S. versus Namibia: Namibia 254 for eight off 50 overs (Gerry Snyman 32, L.B. Burger 34, Charles Reid 3-40); United States 258 for 8 off 45.5 overs (Clayton Lambert 64, Steve Massiah 72, Charles Reid 30, S.Berger 2-31).

U.S. versus United Arab Emirates: United States 245 for 6 off 50 overs (Steve Massiah 92 not out, Rohan Alexander 50, Clayton Lambert 57); UAE 246 for 5 off 46 overs (Khurram Khan 103 not out, Syed Masud 65, Howard Johnson 2-26, Charles Reid 2-35).

The U.S. team is made up mostly of West Indians and weekend hobby cricketers.

The Six Nations Challenge is part of the ICC's program that aims to narrow the gap between developing and Test nations. The first edition of the tournament was won by Kenya and also featured Canada, the Netherlands, Kenya, Namibia, Sri Lanka 'A' and Zimbabwe 'A.'

The limited overs competition will decide which team goes into the Champions Trophy, cricket's second most important event after the World Cup, to be played in England later this year. The teams will be battling for the right to play World Cup winner Australia and New Zealand in the first round of the trophy.

It is a 50-over round-robin format tournament with matches in both Sharjah and its neighboring emirate, Dubai.

* Culled from newswire reports.