The national team’s final game of the year was the 11th place play off against Kenya in the WCT20 qualifier. Canada came up against 42-year old Steve Tikolo, who provided a reminder of the class that led Kenya to a World Cup semi final, with a quick 40 and then taking 3/16. Despite a captain’s innings from Bagai, Canada were well beaten by 25 runs.
The two teams who both have fallen significantly in the associate rankings in recent years were evenly matched. Kenya batted first and Tikolo made a 23 ball 40 to get the Kenyans off to a good start. After 10 overs, Kenya had 80 on the board. Raza-ur-Rehman took 2/16 from his four overs, including the wicket of Tikolo, stumped. Collins Obuya (40) kept up one end but wickets falling at the other kept the run-rate down. Kenya ended up on 146/7.
Canada’s opening batting has been a problem in this tournament, and yet again they lost quick wickets. Gunasekera smashed two fours and a six but was out caught in the deep in the second over, and Cheema followed for a duck 4 balls later – 17/2 after two overs. Yet again Bagai, this time in partnership with Limabada, was faced with re-building after a poor start. They took the total to 44 before Limbada (16) was run out, and then Hansra fell to Tikolo’s spin – 48/4. Raza-ur-Rehman was caught behind in the eleventh over, bringing in Hamza Tariq. He hit a couple of sixes in a 16 ball 22, but was caught with Canada needing 52 from 31 balls. Junaid Siddiqui and Baidwan both fell to Tikolo in the 18th over and two run outs ended the innings, with Bagai the last man to fall for 48.
It was perhaps an appropriate end to a dismal tournament for Canada, with Bagai the only consistent bat, making 247 runs at an average of 35. Hansra also topped 200 runs, but the rest of the team provided inadequate support. Baidwan and Gordon shared top wicket taking honours with 11 each, but Baidwan was expensive, conceding 8/ over. Abzal Dean deserved his place with the best economy rate, although he only played in half the games. Canada have a lot of work to do before the qualification tournament for the World Cup proper in 6 weeks time.
Scorecard