Canada made 219 for nine from 50 overs, to break the 200 barrier for the first time on the current tour, but lost to Trinidad and Tobago by five wickets on Saturday at the National Cricket Centre, Couva.. Opening bat Hiral Patel hit 58 in leading Canada’s opening stand of 69 with Ruvindu Gunasekera (12), but when T&T batted, Evin Lewis hit 87 and Lendl Simmons 41 in a opening stand of 127 runs. Nikhil Dutta with 3 wickets for 37 runs and Damodar Daesrath (two for 40) accounted for the five T & T wickets that fell.
Meanwhile Brent Lezama, who played for the Kings in Canada’s TJT National League in 2009, lead the way with 48 not out as Caldrac Sports beat PowerGen Sports in the T & T National League on Saturday. Lezama made a duck for Canada B in a two-day practice match at the Toronto Cricket club in August 2009. Some of the current PowerGen squad were involved in the 50-over international against Canada.
PowerGen Sports had a successful tour of the Toronto area in August 2007, although an over where Toronto and District club Overseas’ Barry Ganese hit six sixes in an over against PowerGen helped bring about a home win. In that game at Maple Leaf CC, Sherwin Ganga struck 125 in PowerGen’s 264 all out but Ganese’s 80 not out from 30 balls saw Overseas storm to a five wicket win. PowerGen won four games and lost two on that 2007 Canadian tour.
And there have been quite a few more cricketing links in recent years involving Canada and Trinidad and Tobago, including a washed-out T20 in October 2008. Canada made 57 for seven wickets and rain halted T&T’s reply when 30 for three wickets. The present tour has seen losses in the three day game, the 50 over match and in both “Howzatt T20 Super League” matches. Let’s hope this latest T&T trip has helped in Canada’s preparations for taking on Kenya in Dubai during March 2013. (Eddie Norfolk)