The Ontario Cricket Academy Facebook page would not be the obvious place to learn of a change to the captaincy for the national team, but that indeed is where we have located this news. There was a hint of a change when Cricket Canada finally provided a squad for the tournament, with the list of names headed by Davy Jacobs, with incumbent captain Nitish Kumar listed second. The Ontario Cricket Academy however makes the situation clear in their post:-
“The Dynamic Davy Jacobs set to lead Canada!
Davy Jacobs former South Africa, Mumbai Indians and Warriors player has been appointed captain of the Canadian national cricket team to play in the West Indies Nagico Super50 Cup in Trinidad and Tobago. This tournament will help to prepare the Canadian team on their journey to qualifying for the next T20 World Cup. As the most experienced and accomplished player in the team, Davy will be playing a key role in the country’s success in moving up the ranks of world cricket.
This is certainly a proud moment for all of us at the Ontario Cricket Academy and we all wish Davy and his troops the very best in this tournament and for the future. Go Davy! Go Canada! “
This report has been picked up by Sport 24 in South Africa, who provide a good short biography for Jacobs as part of their coverage.
Meanwhile, the Cricket Canada web site/ Facebook page/ Twitter feed has nothing on the change. The web page lists Nitish Kumar as captain of the senior men’s team (on a page that profiles the team that competed in WCL Division 3 in May 2017!). The Cricket Canada Strategic Plan – which can be found on the web site – suggests a major objective is to “Raise the profile of cricket through promotion and public engagement” with specifically the plan to
– Improve website
– Increase social media presence
– Improve PR and media
It seems that there is much work to do if this objective is to be realised. Meanwhile confirmation of the change may occur today when the scorecard from Canada’s opening match today indicates the * beside the name of either Jacobs or Kumar.
Update: a mere few hours after our note here, Cricket Canada announced the change officially on their web site in somewhat purple prose. We are happy to continue to provide remnders to Cricket Canada to update their web site if that helps keep Canadian fans informed… No explanation is given for the change in leadership other than “The team has a newer look and a fresh set of players than those that played in the recently concluded ICC WT20 SRQ. This just goes to show determination of the management to rebuild the team.”
Update!: We’ve learned that Davy Jacobs is coaching the team on this tour as well as captaining them. Cricket Canada clearly has not followed its own policy in appointing the new coach – which states that a committee be established to review candidates, and a public call for applications be posted on the Cricket Canada web site. Given the absence of any information as to this appointment from Cricket Canada it may be that this is a short-term temporary measure.