ICC 2022 T20 World Cup Qualifier A in Oman
The Canadian squad has arrived in Oman and begun preparations for the ICC 2022 T20 World Cup Qualifier A, one of two Qualifiers on the path to the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. The other participating countries in Qualifier A are: Oman (hosts), Ireland, Bahrain, Germany, Nepal, Philippines, and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Oman and Ireland qualified as a result of being eliminated in the first round of the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. Nepal and the UAE qualified due to their ranking in the ICC MRF Tyres Men’s T20I rankings. The other four teams advanced from ICC Regional T20 Qualifiers: Canada (ICC Americas), Germany (ICC Europe), Nepal (ICC Asia) and Philippines (ICC East Asia-Pacific).
The first phase of Qualifier A has the eight teams divided into two groups of four. Each team will play one game against each of the other three teams in a group. Canada’s group comprises Nepal, Oman and the Philippines. The second group in Qualifier A comprises Ireland, UAE, Germany and Bahrain.
The top two from each group advance to the playoffs to decide the tournament finalists, whilst the bottom two from each group will play in games to decide the lower placings. The two tournament finalists advance to the opening round of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
Canadian Squad
The Canadian squad is: Navneet Dhaliwal (Captain), Dilon Heyliger, Rishiv Joshi, Jatinder Matharu, Shreyas Moova, Salman Nazar, Rayyan Pathan, Kaleem Sana, Junaid Siddiqui, Ravinderpal Singh, Matthew Spoors, Hamza Tarik, Harsh Thakkar, Saad Zafar
Reserves are: Sahid Ahmedzai, Akash Gill, Rommel Shahzad, Bhupinder Sohal, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Uday Walia and Simran Virk.
The five officials supporting the Canadian team are: Carlos Ragoonath (Manager), Amrinder Bhinder (Coach), Daulat Khan (Fielding Coach), Khurram Chohan (Bowling Coach) and Ankur Sharma (Physio)
Canada’s Plans
The Canadian squad flew out on February 2, 2022 and will be able to gain experience of the local conditions before the tournament begins. Canada is due to play two warm-up games against Germany before the tournament proper begins on February 18.
Canada’s tournament begins against the Philippines on Friday 18 February at the Oman Academy Ground 2 (10am local time start). Canada then plays hosts Oman on Saturday 19 February at the Oman Academy Ground 1 (10am local start). Canada’s group games conclude on Monday 21 February against Nepal.
The Group A playoffs are due to begin on Tuesday February 22 and conclude on Thursday February 21 with the Final and the playoff to decide 3rd place.
Current T20 Rankings
Canada is currently ranked 26th in the current ICC’s T20I Rankings that were updated on 7 January 2022. The current ICC T20I rankings place Canada fifth of the eight participating teams in this Qualifier A, so there’s a significant challenge for Canada to reach the final and a berth in the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup.
Unlike the Canadian Under-19 squad which went into the recent ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup without any playing action in any ICC Americas Regional Qualifier due to the challenges of COVID-19, the men’s team did play and advance to this global Qualifier A via an ICC Americas Qualifier. But this is, as often happens, an out-of-season important event for the Canadian players, as was the recently concluded ICC U19 CWC.
Ireland, with Full Member (Test match, etc) status rank 13th (based on 31 games) in the current ICC T20I standings, which is one place below Nepal. Nepal, currently in 12th place (from 19 games) are the highest ranking team in Qualifier A. UAE are currently 15th (15 games) with hosts Oman in 17th place (from 13 games). Oman and UAE are due to conclude a three game ODI series today (Feb 7). So are active on the playing front.
Canada currently ranks 22nd in the T20I standings based on 16 games. Germany ranks 33rd (based on 23 games), Bahrain ranks 34th (based on 8 games) and the Philippines 46th (based on 5 games).
You Never Know Until The End
Philippines presence comes is due to second place from the last ICC East Asia-Pacific Regional T20 Championship. A win in a game reduced to 5 overs against Vanuatu partly opened a door for the Philippines a double-round robin, three team tournament. The dark clouds of defeat for the Philippines against Papua New Guinea in the last game of that championship were swept aside by rain and one point from a No Result. Philippines at 11/2 (2 overs) had a long way to go to equal or overhaul Papua New Guinea’s 205/2 (20 overs) in that closing match in the EAP Championship. But the required minimum of 5 overs could not be completed, so the game ended as a No Result. One point to add to the two from the 5-over game win against Vanuatu lifted the Philippines into second place and a berth in the upcoming Qualifier A in Oman.
Philippines thumped 46/3 from 5 overs against Vanuatu in the second set of round-robin matches then restricted Vanuatu to 36/2 from 5 overs. A loss to Papua New Guinea in the last game of the tournament would have almost certainly have cemented third the Philippines to last place as Vanuatu had a better net run rate. But that’s part of probability theory, not absolute certainty as the batters might, if the rain had come a bit later, have struck 100 or so in a hurry without losing all ten wickets to improve the Philippines net run rate.
Canadian cricket followers might comment – as some did on social media – about how Canada could (and should) have beaten the USA in the tenth game of the 2021 ICC Americas T20 Regional Championship last November. A potential win for Canada became a 20-over tie and a Super Over loss. But it wasn’t the only game of cricket in 2021 where the imminent emotion of a significant win transformed into a lost dream.
But the overall dream of Canada reaching the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup remains alive. This February 2022 opportunity comes with the challenge of playing an important global qualification tournament well out of season for cricket in Canada. Another situation well known to many Canadian international cricketers. Heck, it will only be a touch beyond three months since Canada’s last official game
ICC 2022 T20 World Cup Qualifier B Set for July 2022
ICC 2022 T20 World Cup Qualifier B is scheduled to be played in Harare, Zimbabwe from 11-17 July, 2022. The tournament will feature Hong Kong, Jersey, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Uganda, the USA and hosts Zimbabwe. As with Qualifier A, two teams will advance from Qualifier A to the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
ICC’s Chris Tetley “Anticipating Top Quality and Competitive Cricket”
ICC Head of Events, Chris Tetley said: “70 teams started the qualification process for this event, and we’ve now reached the final stages with four spots at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 set to be decided in two global qualifiers starting with this one in Oman.”
“With such a prize at stake, we’re anticipating top quality and competitive cricket as the teams battle to secure their place in the final and onto the plane to Australia later this year. Thanks to Oman Cricket, who are hosting their second ICC global event following last year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, for their support in planning what we trust will be another safe and successful event”.
Eddie Norfolk,Toronto, 7 February 2022