Steven Taylor is rapidly showing himself to be the best homegrown player the USA have produced since the glory days of Bart King over 100 years ago. And he showed that with a huge innings in his team's opening WCL Division 3 match against Nepal yesterday.

Batting first after losing the toss, Taylor set about the Nepalese attack with aplomb, smashing 162 from just 102 balls. He was dismissed in the 35th over, just when he was looking set to make the first WCL 200. As it was, it was the fourth highest score in WCL history. The big hitting didn't end with him, as Timroy Allen smashed 67 from 34 balls as the USA reached 366-6 from their 50 overs.

The target was beyond the reach of Nepal, who can often struggle with the bat, especially when chasing. Paras Khadka and Sharad Vesawkar batted well, scoring 73 and 72 respectively, but most didn't really get a start and Nepal were bowled out for 272, losing by 94 runs.

It was a similarly comprehensive win for Uganda against hosts Bermuda, but this was a much lower scoring game. Uganda scored 222-7 from their 50 overs, Arthur Kyobe top scoring with 53. Bermuda were then bowled out for just 108 to lose by 114 runs. Pick of the Ugandan bowlers was Henry Ssenyondo with 4-24.

Italy were batting first in their match against Oman, and suffered a remarkable batting collapse, going from 58-2 to 77-9. It was then down to number 11 Dilan Fernando to make the highest score of the Italian innings, reaching 22 before he was dismissed, taking the Italian score to 110.

The target was little trouble for Oman, and they reached the target within 30 overs to win by 7 wickets, though the winning run was hit from the first ball of Carl Sandri's 11th over - an unfortunate mistake by the umpires.

Today's matches will see USA play Italy, Oman play hosts Bermuda and Uganda take on Nepal.