Canada’s skipper Ashish Bagai is featured in the latest edition of ICC Cricket World, the ICC’s weekly radio show.
Bagai discusses Canada’ upcoming participation at the 2010 ICC WCL Division 1 and the lead up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
via Cricket Canada.
Canada kicked off the U-19 World Cup with a bang today with a tense victory over Zimbabwe. Canada won the toss and elected to bat and held off the a tough Zimbabwe team by 10 runs to get secure their first ever victory in the tournament.
Canada started off well within the first 10 overs with Ruvindu Gunasekara and Hiral Patel getting Canada off to a steady start. Ruvindu was the first batsman to depart after making 20, while Hiral made 29. In the next 10 overs Canada lost 3 quick wickets before Usman Limbada took charge with a superb 90 runs off only 114 balls. A knock which included 6 fours and 1 six which helped the boys reach a defendable target of 201-7 after batting their alotted 50 overs. Usman shared an important 57 run partnership with Darius D’Souza (20 from 34 balls).
Although it wasn’t a huge target it was certainly enough to put up a good fight and they held their nerve in the last few overs. Zimbabwe’s chase got off to a rocky start because of some great bowling from Zain Mahmood and Arsalan Qadir. Zain picked up 3 wickets for 31 runs to lead the bowling attack. Zimbabwe was 23-3 before Wicket keeper Dean Mashawidza and Andrew Lindsay steadied the chase for Zimbabwe with 75 and 40 runs respectively. Parth Desai got the crucial breakthrough by trapping Mashawidza in front for a big LBW. Zimbabwe fell short by 10 runs and were all out in the 50th over.
It’s the first ever victory for Canada at the U-19 World Cup and hopefully a good sign for things to come. But, while it is a big victory, it is only one game. The team must treat this like any another game and start preparing for the hosts New Zealand tomorrow. There will be plenty of time to savour this victory after the tournament is over… This game is definitely history.
Check out the full scorecard here.
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The Ontario representatives had a good practice with some of the Senior Canadian Men’s team players. It was my first chance to see the young guys in person and I was really impressed.
One thing about this bunch is that they are not lacking in confidence. Even if they don’t win, there is enough talent in the group to put up a good fight.
The fitness level was good and there is some variety in the bowling with a few left arm spin bowling options. They leave on New Years Day and play their first warm up game on the 12th.
The full squad:
Rustam Bhatti (captain), Manny Aulakh, Parth Desai, Darius D’Souza, Ruvindu Gunasekara, Hardik Kotak, Nitish Kumar, Usman Limbada, Zain Mahmood, Asif Manjra, Hiral Patel, Riyazkhan Pathan, Arsalan Qadir, Harpreet Singh, Hamza Tariq.
You can support the squad by visiting the Cricket Canada online shop. Check out the new toques.
Cricket Canada is pleased to announce a 14 man squad for the 2010 Sri Lanka Training Camp and Quad T20 Series.
The senior team will depart for Colombo in early January where they will engage in an intense training camp prior to locking horns with Sri Lanka A, Ireland, and Afghanistan in a T20 Quadrangular Series.
The training camp and series will serve as a warm up to February’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Dubai.
Full Squad:
Ashish Bagai – Captain, Harvir Baidwan, Trevin Bastiampillai, Umar Bhatti, Saad Bin Zafar, Rizwan Cheema, Khurram Chohan, Sunil Dhaniram, Sandeep Jyoti, Shaheed Keshvani, Thanna Kurooparan, Henry Osinde, Abdool Samad, Jason Sandher.
The squad will be joined by a select number of U19 players at the conclusion of the U19 World Cup from New Zealand as Canada prepares for an exciting and action packed 2010 cricket schedule.
Source: Cricket Canada
The Emirates Cricket Board will host 7 other nations in February for a chance to qualify for the 2010 Twenty/20 World Cup to be staged in the West Indies. The tournament will run from February 9-13. The matches will be held at the Dubai Sports City and Abu Dhabi stadiums.
Group A – Ireland, Scotland, Afghanistan, USA
Group B – Netherlands, Kenya, Canada, UAE
Schedule
Feb 9th Canada vs Netherlands
Feb 10th Canada vs Kenya
Feb 11th Canada vs UAE
view the full schedule here
The top 2 teams in each group will then play in the ‘Super Four’ round. The 2 teams that reach the finals will qualify for the T20 CWC in April 2010.
Canada is the 5th ranked team in the tournament based on their finish in the 2008 event.
The Canadian Cricketer 