Canada open Hong Kong tour with win over Malaysia

Electing to bowl first after winning the toss, Canada dominated the middle overs to bowl Malaysia out for just 162 in 40.5 overs. The bowling effort looks that much more impressive when considering that the opposition had just put 277/4 in 50 overs in the previous match against Hong Kong.

There were a few tense moments in the chase but, in the end, Canada’s depth in batting shone through to chase the target down in just 28.2 overs and provide a significant boost to the net run rate heading into Saturday’s match against Hong Kong.

Saad Bin Zafar was named Player of the Match for his outstanding effort with both bat and ball, scoring an unbeaten 30 off 28 in the chase after bowling eight overs for just 15 runs and collecting two wickets as well.

“Happy with how things went overall,” Bin Zafar said after the match. “We still might need a few days to get acclimatized to the conditions but overall a good game for us.”

Below is the playing XI on the day followed by five takeaways from the win over Malaysia:

Canada Playing XI: Aaron Johnson, Yuvraj Samra, Navneet Dhaliwal, Ajayveer Hundal, Srimantha Wijeyeratne (wk), Udaybir Walia, Saad Bin Zafar ©, Dillon Heyliger, Uday Bhagwan, Sahib Malhotra, Ishwarjot Sohi.

HEYLIGER HITS THE GROUND RUNNING

Dillon Heyliger set the tone for Canada early with a brilliant opening spell of four overs for just 11 runs and the opening wicket. Finding his rhythm right from the opening over, Heyliger’s deliveries that shaped away from the left-hander and into the right-hander had Malaysia’s openers looking elsewhere for scoring options.

Heyliger picked up a wicket in the first over of his second spell as well and added a sharp catch diving forward to dismiss Vijay Unni for Sahib Malhotra’s first wicket of the match. Funnily enough, Malhotra returned the favour later with a diving catch of his own to give Heyliger his third wicket. In a hurry to wrap up proceedings, Heyliger then picked up his fourth wicket and Malaysia’s final wicket off the very next ball.

CAPTAIN LEADS SPIN ATTACK FROM THE FRONT

On a pitch offering plenty of assistance for the spinners, Saad Bin Zafar relished the opportunity to turn the match decisively in Canada’s favour. Bin Zafar introduced himself into the attack in the 10th over and sparked Canada taking a firm grip of the match with the big wicket of opposing captain Virandeep Singh for a run-a-ball 40. With his left-arm orthodox regularly beating the right-hander’s outside edge, Bin Zafar bowled his specialty arm ball that went straight on to hit the pad with Singh playing for turn when there was none.

With Malaysia looking well positioned at 56/1 after the first 10 overs, Bin Zafar’s spell consistently bamboozled Malaysia’s batters to leave them in a precarious position of 84/4 after 20 overs. The Canadian captain bowled seven overs on the trot in his first spell, conceding just 14 runs and taking two wickets.

He was ably supported by Navneet Dhaliwal’s tidy off-spin, who conceded just 13 runs from his six overs and sharply effected the run out of Zubaidi Zulkifle at the non-striker’s end off a drive hit straight back at him. Sahib Malhotra was the third spinner in the attack on the day, his leg-spin collecting a solitary wicket for the cost of 40 runs from his seven overs. He was a tad unlucky with a few deliveries that beat the outside edge, as well as one delivery that induced an edge to where first slip would have been, except the fielder had just been moved from first slip to a wider second slip position.

SOHI BOUNCES BACK, BHAGWAN TEASES POTENTIAL

Ishwarjit Sohi struggled in his opening spell, conceding 32 runs in a wicket-less four overs. He was wayward with his line and length, bowling a bit too short and wide.

Given an opportunity to bounce back in the middle overs, Sohi did so extremely well with a second spell that read 4-0-11-1 including the big wicket of Sharvin Muniandy. The Malaysia batter had just scored an unbeaten 125 off 129 in a surprise win over Hong Kong in the opening match of this tri-series.

Uday Bhagwan impressed in his five overs, generating good bounce and rushed Malaysia’s batters on occasion. He picked up the wicket of Muhamad Syahadat with a short-pitched delivery that had the batter looking to fend it away but only managing to feather the ball through to wicket-keeper Srimantha Wijeyeratne instead.

AJ BOTH LUCKY AND GOOD IN LEADING CHASE

They say it’s better to be lucky than good but Aaron Johnson’s motto on this day seemed to be that it may be best to be both good and lucky. Johnson was in no mood to just hang around right from ball one and his scintillating strokeplay made life much easier for the batters who followed.

Given a reprieve at slip in the very first over, Johnson made the most of his second life to plunder Malaysia’s attack to all parts of the ground. One lofted drive over long-off for six in the 10th over in particular would have left Rohit Sharma in admiration.

Despite the early wickets of Yuvraj Samra and Dhaliwal, Johnson maintained a positive intent throughout his innings to finish with seven fours and four sixes in a superb 67 off 52. His bravery earned him a third life when dropped in the deep shortly after reaching his half-century, but Muhammid Amir finally held onto one for Malaysia and sent the opener back to the pavilion with 54 runs required.

WALIA, BIN ZAFAR SETTLE NERVES AFTER MIDDLE-ORDER WOBBLE

Canada were wobbling a bit at 33/2 after 5.5 overs, but Ajayveer Hundal showed some good composure to help steady the Canadian ship in a 40-run partnership alongside Johnson. It looked as though Srimantha Wijeyeratne and Johnson would guide Canada home as the two put on 36 in quick time, but both batters were dismissed in quick succession to send the men in red and black from a comfortable 109/3 in 17.3 overs to a nervy 119/5 just 16 balls later.

Having already led from the front with the ball, Bin Zafar soaked up some pressure before cutting loose towards the end, finishing the match with a four and a six. His unbeaten 30 off 28 was ably supported by Udaybir Walia, who looked good value for his 26 off 31 with four boundaries and a six. The pair added 48 in 49 balls for the sixth wicket to ensure Canada made a winning start.

Credit Malaysia for carrying over its form and resilience from the opening match to put Canada under some pressure in the chase, but some of this is also attributable to the Canadians having not played outdoors in three months as well as arriving in Hong Kong just a couple days ago and still coping with jet lag.

Canada will play Hong Kong next on Friday at 8 p.m. EST.