Canada World Cup Squad
Batsmen
Hiral Patel - 19 - Right Hand Opening Batsman
Ruvindu Gunasekera - 19 - Left Hand Opening/Top Order Batsman
Ashish Bagai (Captain) - 28 - Wicket Keeper - Right Hand Top Order Batsman
Zubin Surkari - 30 - Right Hand Top/Middle Order Batsman
Rizwan Cheema (Vice Captain) - 32 - Right Hand Middle Order Batsman
Jimmy Hansra - 26 - Right Hand Middle Order Batsman
All-Rounders
John Davison - 40 - Right Hand Opening/Middle Order Batsman - Right Arm Off Spin Bowler
Tyson Gordon - 28 - Left Hand Middle Order Batsman - Right Arm Fast Medium Bowler
Nitish Kumar - 16 - Right Hand Opening/Middle Order Batsman - Right Arm Off Spin Bowler
Harvir Baidwan - 23 - Right Arm Medium Bowler - Right Hand Middle/Lower Order Batsman
Karl Whatham - 29 - Right Arm Off Spin Bowler - Right Hand Lower Order Batsman
Spin Bowlers
Balaji Rao - 32 - Right Arm Leg Spin Bowler
Parth Desai - 20 - Left Arm Orthodox Bowler
Fast Bowlers
Khurram Chohan - 30 - Right Arm Fast Medium Bowler
Henry Osinde - 32 - Right Arm Medium Fast Bowler
Canada come into this World Cup as the clear minnow of all underdogs, but also with a nice little element of mystery. Only three of the fifteen have previous World cup experience. Medium pacer Osinde was part of the 07 squad although he did not feature prominently. Captain Bagai and long time talisman Davison, who honed his craft in his home town of Adelaide, are Canada's two wily veterans now.
All manner of political problems have afflicted Canada's World Cup preparation. Davision threatened to leave the party when fellow veterans Ian Billcliff and Geoff Barnett were overlooked because of professional commitments in Europe. Overseas commitments are not a new problem for the Canadians, with captain Bagai also often absent. On top of this, a small portion of the squad face a nervous and rather time-sensitive wait for passports to enter India, and fast bowler Tyson Gordon is awaiting his very citizenship, having emigrated from Jamaica.
It is an unfortunate side-effect when you take the decision to pack the national team with various expatriates, mostly from India, Pakistan and Australia, as opposed to fostering home grown talent. This is an argument which is at the heart of Canadian cricket.
The exuberance of youth, as well as the comparative anonymity of this Canadian team, even compared to fellow associate countries, could work in their favour, but it is hard to look past the lack of experience when judging the squad.
Prediction
Canada will genuinely fancy their chances. Kenya are in a troubled state and could be there for the taking, and you can always rely on Zimbabwe to fold miserably at certain times. Beyond these two clashes it's the same old story. The nature of the draw means one upset could mean a quarter final. However I find none of this particularly likely. Canada to tail the group.
Hosford's XI
Patel, Gunasekera, Bagai (C) (WK), Davison, Cheema (VC), Surkari, Gordon, Baidwan, Rao, Chohan, Desai
Only three of the players in the squad are waiting for visas to India and one of those is only there as cover should Tyson Gordon's citizenship not come through. The ICC have said that all players at the World Cup will be granted visas, so hopefully this will not be an issue.
ReplyDeleteBy going for youth the selectors have three players who were born in Canada. This is an important development, because apart from a brief period in the mid-nineteenth century cricket in Canada has been reliant on immigrants. If cricket is to develop in Canada then it must be played by those who are born in Canada.
For more details about the history of Canadian cricket, check out my webpage: www.historyofcanadiancricket.pbworks.com
Cool, thanks.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of interesting stuff on your website which is of great value because I've found in my research that even amongst the leading associates, Canadian Cricket is particularly difficult to find detailed information on.
I've heard the Visas may still be a problem, but that the ICC should be able to shift the games anyway in a worse case scenario.
I definitely agree that these home-bred youths are of vital importance because development can't really foster as much as it should as long as the team remains made up mostly of expats.