1 October, 2023
By Tony McWatt
Canada’s quest for ICC 2024 T20 World Cup Americas qualification glory has started disastrously. The Canadians suffered an undesirable 86run defeat to tournament hosts Bermuda, in the opening match of the September 30 – – October 7 Qualifier.
Set to make 182 for victory after Bermuda had posted a formidable first strike twenty overs total of 181/9, the Canadians never recovered from losing their first three wickets for only fourteen runs in 3.4 overs. They were eventually bundled out for 95 in only seventeen overs.
Taking first strike, the Bermudians who had never defeated Canada in their seven previous T20I encounters, got off to a flying start with their openers Kamau Leverock and Tre Manders posting twenty-six in just 3.2 overs before the first wicket fell. Manders was the first of Kaleem Sana’s four victims, bowled by the left-arm seamer for just 12.
Sana was by far the pick of the Canadian bowlers, capturing 4/23 from his four overs at the very impressive economical rate of 5.75. He was ably supported by Harsh Thaker who took 1/16 from his four overs.
The rest of the Canadian bowling, however, proved to be waywardly expensive! Jeremy Gordon had figures of 1/50 – 4 for a 12.50 economy rate; Nikhil Dutta’s figures were 0/27-3; Newcomer Dilpreet Bajwa’s maiden scalp in Canadian colors was at the cost of 21 runs from just two overs; Nicholas Kirton’s solitary over went wicketless for 19 whopping runs, and Skipper Saad Bin Zafar managed only 1/22 off 2 overs, for an unflattering economy rate of 11.00.
The Canadian bowlers were all taken to the sword by Bermuda’s opening batter Kamau Leverock, who struck a belligerent 43ball 83 that included six maximums and seven fours. Leverock was very well supported by his captain Delray Rawlins, whose 38ball 66 included an equal amount of five sixes and fours.
Chasing Bermuda’s formidable 181/9 at an initially required run-rate of 9.05, the Canadians started disastrously losing the wickets of Aaron Johnson (1), Nicholas Kirton (3) and Navneet Dhaliwal (9) within the first four overs and with the score having progressed to merely 14. All three fell victim to Bermuda’s opening bowler Cejay Outerbridge who eventually finished with figures of 3/18-4.
Nikhil Dutta’s 27 off 16 balls with two sixes and an equal number of fours, and skipper Saad Bin Zafar whose 26 not out was compiled from 23 balls with two fours and one six were the only Canadian batters to reach double figures. The rest of the Canadian batting scoresheet read like a Bingo game card. Pargat Singh 9, Harsh Thaker 2, Srimantha Wijeyeratne 9, Dilpreet Bajwa 3, Kaleem Sana 2 and Jeremy Gordon 1.
The opening match disastrous loss has left the Canadians with plenty of work to do in their five remaining tournament fixtures. They will now have to win all five handsomely, and with incredibly positive net run rates if they are to stand any chance of emerging as the tournament winners to qualify as one of the twenty teams that will be participating at the 2024 ICC T2o World Cup to be jointly hosted by the West Indies and USA next June!
