Canada’s disappointing loss to the UAE today left the Maple Leaf rooted at the foot of Group A in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifying tournament at the conclusion of five rounds of matches. But the afternoon’s two Group A games in the sixth round saw wins for Ireland against Uganda and Hong Kong against the USA. A situation that allows Canada to control its own qualification destiny for the playoff phase with two wins in the last group games.
Those who think every silver lining has a cloud may have decided Canada does not seem destined to progress in this tournament, but those of the view that every cloud has a silver lining can cling to the hope that two wins from Canada’s last two games against Namibia and Italy will see Canada into the playoffs. Once in the playoffs there are four qualifying places available for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh (the top team in each of Group A and B automatically gain the prime two qualifying places) and it becomes a new ball game.
The sixth round in Group A continues on Saturday when Canada (W 1, L4, Pts 2) play Namibia (W 2, L 3, Pts 4) and the UAE (W 4, L 1, Pts 8) take on Italy (W 1, L3, N/R 1, Pts 3).
The seventh and final round-robin games in Group A are scheduled for Sunday when Canada play Italy, Namibia plays Uganda (W 1, L4, N/R 1, Pts 3), Hong Kong (W 5, L 1, Pts 10) challenge Ireland (W 5 L 0 N/R 1, 11 points) for top place in the group, and host UAE meet the USA (W 1, L4, N/R 1, Pts 3). So Uganda and the USA can only gain a maximum of five points and Canada could reach six points with wins against Namibia and Italy.
It is disappointing, and must be extremely disappointing to skipper Ashish Bagai, other members of the Canadian squad and the support staff, that Canada has not done better and already sealed a qualifying spot for the playoffs, but the road to success and overall qualification is open if – and it seems a big ‘if” at present – Canada wins these last two Group A games.
Nambia has struggled for consistent run scoring with just two batsmen having grossed over 100 runs in the tournament so far. Craig Williams has made 129 runs from five innings with a top score of 57 and Chris Viljoen has made 102 runs. Three others have made an individual score in the 40’s but do not have many runs from Namibia’s other matches. The highest score and cumulative runs for these batsmen being: Louis van der Westhuizen 41 (95 total runs), Raymond van Schoor 48* (71) and Sorel Berger 43 (68).
Canadian pace bowlers Jeremy Gordon and Harvir Baidwan have had their moments, Baidwan was named Man-of-the-Match against the UAE today for his four wickets. If Canada can make early inroads into the Namibian batting, then the sun might begin to shine beyond the silver lining of the clouds. The spinners might then play a part in mid-innings.
Now beyond a Canadian perspective on the dreams and hopes, a Namibian observer might hold the view that only three Canadian batsmen have tallied 100 or more runs, to date, in this tournament. Ashish Bagai has 185 runs with a top-score of 67*, Jimmy Hansra has tallied 146 runs with 58* as his best effort and Ruvindu Gunasekera has made 112 runs with 65 as his top score.
These short games can involve a certain amount of highs and lows: swings and roundabouts. Pictorial evidence indicates at least a couple of catching chances were missed against the UAE today, while the seventeenth over was going really well for three balls with a wicket for Hansra and a couple of dot balls. But the over concluded with three boundaries from Amjad Javed, who was bowled by Baidwan in the next over.
All part of the swings and roundabouts of cricket where a player may mentally swing to temporary highs or lows, fall off the roundabout, stay on the roundabout or jump back on board. Perhaps these last two matches for Canada require two wins to progress from the Group A roundabout to the swings of the playoffs. Hopefully Canada can pull round and win these last two group matches.
A hope and wish I extended to Canadian team manager, Johnny Bujon earlier today.
　
Eddie Norfolk