Canada plays Uganda in New Zealand on Sunday (Jan 26, 2014) in a consolation playoff where the winner proceeds to a game to decide seventh place and the loser is destined for the ninth place decider. The Netherlands plays Nepal in the other opening round consolation playoff game, also on Sunday.
One material weaknesses in the Group stage for Canada has been a generally major gap between runs from Canada’s number three batsmen and runs by the opposition’s number three. This produced some bigger gaps between Canada and the opposition in second wicket partnerships, although sometimes the number three holds firm but the opening bat partner. Indeed, the best score by a Canadian number three was by Trevin Bastiampillai with 29 against Hong Kong, but his partner was gone with no runs added for the second wicket.
Canada’s best second wicket stand was the 37 made against Scotland, well short of the Scots second wicket stand of 144. Hong Kong reached victory against Canada with an unbroken second wicket stand of 166, and the UAE’s second wicket added 103 against Canada. Nepal’s 83 for the second wicket was the lowest of the opposition second wicket stands against Canada in Group A.
So there has been a double-edged sword of Canada not being able to capture two or more early wickets and little strength from either batting partnerships for Canada’s second wicket or from whoever is put into the number three spot. Success or failures in second wicket partnerships are not the be all and end all of a cricket match, particularly in Associates and Affiliates cricket where some teams have a range of potential all-rounders who may hit runs from any position or taken wickets.
Canada was generally better than the opposition with number three batting and second wicket stands in Kenya during the first ICC Global World Cricket League Division One tournament in 2007. Some comparisons are provided at the end for the Canada’s performances in 2014 and those of 2007, but the currrent priority is for Canada to do well against Uganda (which means win) and then win the seventh place decider next week.
Returning to the current tournament situation, Canada’s best second wicket stand was the 37 added against Scotland. By major contrast, the Scottish second wicket stand proved a killer to Canada’s hopes of reaching the SuperSixes. Scottish number three Matt Machan clipped 68 runs from 70 balls in a second wicket stand of 144 with opener Calum MacLeod who powered his way to an eventual 175. There is no consolation that this second wicket stand was less than Hong Kong’s unbroken 166 against Canada or that MacLeod was eventually out in a mini-collapse of three quick wickets with Scotland beyond the 300 mark.
Matt Machan’s 68 for Scotland edges out Hong Kong captain and number three bat Jamie Atkinson’s 63 not out. But the best individual score by an opposition number three in Canada’s Group A matches came from veteran UAE skipper Khurram Khan with 88 runs from 84 balls. Nepal’s number three
Gyanendra Malla came a close second to Khurram Khan with 86 from 97 balls. Clearly all four knocks beat out Trevin Bastiampillai’s 37 that topped the Canadian number threes in Group matches.
Malla took part in a second wicket stand of 83 for Nepal against Canada with Pradeep Airee. It was the only second wicket stand of less than 100 against Canada in group matches. Khurram Khan and opening bat Amjad Ali just passed the century stand mark to post 103 for the UAE’s second wicket against Canada.
Hopefully, Canada will see some number three batting power against Uganda in Sunday’s consolation playoff game, unless Canada’s openers blaze a winning trail without the need of a number three! Similarly Canada’s opening bowlers might pick up a couple of early wickets, although this did not happen in the pre-tournament warm-up game against Uganda. One of the Ugandan opening bats retired after reaching a personal 50 with Uganda around the 100 mark.
It must be admitted that details of any missed chances are not available from Canada’s Group matches in this Qualifier so the bowlers might have been performing quite well but lacked the support from the field.
Canada at the 2007 WCL in Nairobi, Kenya
Looking back, it was on January 30, 2007 that Ashish Bagai, batting at number three for Canada, made what proved his highest ODI score. He was 137 not out when Canada’s innings closed in dark conditions at 269 for nine, some seven runs short of Scotland’s 276 for four at the Ruaraka Sports Club, Nairobi. Canada’s second wicket pair of Bagai and Abdool Samad (32) added 71 for the second wicket. It was an interesting, sometimes eventful game with a tense ending in failing light. Canada needed eight off the last ball. Scotland made 276 for four from 50 overs and Canada ended on 269 for nine from 50 overs.
Off the field there were various issues regarding the ability of an ICC official at the ground to provide copies of completed official scoresheets to the media and to team officials. He was only able to provide copies of the Scottish innings in the media room around as lunch was coming to an end. The scorecard provided was from Cricinfo.
The promise was given of faster delivery of the scorecards at the end of the game. A promise that did not come to fruition. Canadian team manager Mike Henry remained at the ground awating a copy of the final version of Canada’s innings after the team bus departed for the hotel, somewhere around 7pm, if not a touch later.
A copy came my way sometime between 9pm and 9.30pm if memory serves correctly. It was a copy of one of the official scoresheets. But the sub-totals had not been written in to complete the extras. The sub-total was two short for Canada, based on my interpretation of the markings on the card. I went and mentioned this to our video analyst, but on the way to see him I mentioned the potential discrepancy to the tournament operations man from the ICC.
I had not been certain why Abdool Samad ended up on the ground during the opening over of Canada’s innings as I took off to potentially eat lunch at the far end of the ground as Canada’s innings began. There had, it turned out, been a collision. In the absence of a TV replay facility no five run penalty was likely to be imposed as the on-field umpires had not had a clear view of what happened.
Ultimately in the late evening and next morning, the possible “two more extras” for Canada did not exist, and as the game ended without any penalty runs g assessed the seven run gap remained a seven run defeat for Canada.
The one angle camera video of the game was reviewed for the scoring next day, based on what I was told by a reliable source. The official scorecard for the game was only posted in the hotel during the following afternoon.
This was certainly the game from which I came to the conclusion an investment in a set of cameras for home international games as well as inter-provincial games would be useful for a number of purposes such as individual player coaching, training match officials, coaching potential coaches, and creating highlights for TV or internet purposes. It might even be useful for selectors to see what happens in various games.
I wondered overnight about the possibility of a replay of the last ball of the game with Canada needing five to win, based on the jottings in the extras. But it would have been difficult to recreate the lack of light at the end of the game.
This match did not lack activity off the field. During the first hour or so of the Scottish innings, the internet service was not working in the media room. Most of those in the media room missed seeing the first dismissal of the game. One of the technicians trying to fix the internet connections called to me to come and try my link. My link that had worked in the early going before play started and was still alive when the toss took place. However, an effort to provide a fix so more people had connectivity was attempted and unsuccessful.
I might have had a nice photo of the catch for the fall of the first wicket, but I did not. I had turned to listen to the technician. So while most in the media room looked around at this technician (most not being happy campers at the time) a catch was taken in the slips. Majid Haq was out.
At least one of the cricket journalists at the game was used to media room action replays at international cricket of important game incidents. But I was able to assist by obtaining confirmation from the Canadian camp on who caught the slip catch.
It turns out that Canada’s second wicket stand of 71 against Scotland in 2007 was more than the 44 added by Fraser Watts and Scotland’s number three Ryan Watson. Watson made 27 from 45 balls. Ashish Bagai ended on 137 not out from 172 balls. His previous best ODI score, at a time when current era Canadian players had not been involved in many ODIs, had been 74. Asif Mulla fell to a well judged boundary catch for 48; nearly, but not quite a six. “Nearly” 198 for three, but in reality 192 for four. The Scots took some good catches and the white ball seemed to become more visible in the air as it got darker.
It seems, from some expanded research, that Canada did well at number three and had better second wicket partnerships in 2007 than the opposition. Although a fourth place finish out of six teams did not bring the prize of one of two spots in an ICC World Twenty20 competition.
Kenya just sparked back to life to reach the SuperSixes in New Zealand. Now Canada must look for victory against Kenya’s neighbours Uganda in the consolation rounds and aim to rise up the ranks in the next four years.
Three of the opposition partnerships for the second wicket in the current World Cup Qualifier have featured players in the 23-27 year old range. Only the UAE’s second wicket stand depended on veteran players, skipper Khurram Khan batting at number three being in his forties.
Canada now has to work hard to get back towards the upper echelons of Associates’ cricket. Two wins are needed starting with Sunday’s game against Uganda, then a win to seal seventh place, which is effectively ninth place given the absence of Ireland and Afghanistan. Absences that point to missed opportunities for Canada in the top section of the 2011-2013 World Cricket League.
Canada lost to Ireland in the Final of the 2009 World Cup Qualifier and in the May 2007 final of the 2006 ICC Intercontinental Cup, but hit over 300 to beat Ireland in Nairobi in February 2007. A 2007 win, like the recent Group A win against Nepal, that brought a possibility of progress to the tournament final. Canada’s last group game in 2007 was against Kenya and due to losses in the first two games, Canada had to overhaul Kenya on net run rate in a similar fashion to this past week’s needs against Scotland.
The bowlers did pretty well to keep Kenya to 250 for nine at a ground that favoured run scoring. Canada had reached 312 for four with two balls to spare in the win against Ireland the previous afternoon. Unfortunately, there was no official word on the number of overs in which Canada needed to hit 251 runs to win and overtake Kenya on net run rate. So the latter part of the lunch interval involved efforts by Mike Henry and Kevin Sandher to work out the magic number of overs and balls Canada needed to possibly reach the competition final.
Video of the team talk before the Canada innings against Kenya used to be on OMNI’s website from a 2007 Canadian cricket preview on the South Asian news English language edition. This history seemed to disappear when the program was, sadly, brought to an end last year.
The victory plan in the innings against Kenya was, I believe, two fold. The initial effort was to be an assault on scoring the 251 in 16-17 or so overs, but a change to basically winning the game was the plan if the front two or three wickets couldn’t setup the quick win. In theory, when the third wicket fell for 27 at the end of three overs, the Canadian batting was to migrate to Plan B and just win the game within 50 overs. But the Kenyan bowlers gained a head of steam from the three early wickets and picked up a couple of wickets with some good deliveries.
Henry Osinde and Andy Cummins had Kenya at 14 for two after 5.1 overs, and Kenya had to battle to reach 76 for three after 20 overs. Canada hit 22 for the second wicket from ten balls, ignoring any wides and no-balls. Canada’s innings ended when George Codrington was out for 24: Canada 92 all out from 14.5 overs.
So it can be important for the number three batsman to exceed the efforts of the opposition and for second wicket stands to be bigger than those posted by the opposition, but it is the overall mix of performance batting, bowling and fielding – sometimes combined with winning the toss on a day when one might not want to bat first – that leads to ongoing success on the cricket field.
Canada’s win against Ireland featured an innings of 122 from number three bat Ashish Bagai. John Davison and Bagai added 106 for the fourth wicket before Davison fell for 57. Qaiser Ali produced 60 not out in the latter stages to bring a win by six wickets.
I never looked to see if Canada Cricket Online posted whatever I had written about the Canada-Scotland game. I wondered if the winning margin might end up as five runs rather than seven, but the scoreboard at the ground had been operated reliably. The pattern in 2007 included playing games on consecutive days, but the experiences overseas made me aware of many factors that might influence how players perform on the field. Some of the players on both sides in the Canada-Ireland game had some different “runs” as a result of stomach troubles.
The last time I ventured overseas was in 2009 and included an Easter Monday win for Canada against Afghanistan and a loss to Ireland in the Final of that ICC World Cup Qualifier. I delayed my trip due to a couple of problems. It turned out, as the last week of the tournament progressed, that I had not really recovered from a pulled leg muscle. On the springy turf of the outfield and surrounds at the Centurion ground the players muscles get a different test to the physical testing on a rock hard outfield. Some of the Canadian players had some injuries that in other circumstances might have seen them sit out a game.
But you can’t just beam some fit and in-form player into one of these events during the off-season for cricket in Canada unless you manage to have some Canadians involved in the local club cricket scene.
Eddie Norfolk
Summary Scoring – Number Three Batsmen, Second Wicket Stands and Team Totals
Comparisons of the runs scored by the number three batsmen for each team in Canada’s games in 2014 and 2007 are now provided. Second wicket partnership information is provided, noting the names of any opening batsman involved in any stand where more than a handful or runs were made. The total runs scored in the team’s innings and number of overs is also provided.
Summary – ICC World Cup Qualifier 2014 in New Zealand
Game 1 Canada v UAE:
UAE Khurram Khan 88 – 2nd wicket stand 130 with Amjad Ali 91 – Inns: 286/6 (50 ov)
CAN Usman Limbada 4 – 2nd wicket stand 5 – Inns: 206/6 (50 ov)
Game 2 Canada v Hong Kong
CAN Trevin Bastiampillai 29 – 2nd wicket stand 0 – Total 171 (48 ov)
HK Jamie Atkinson 63* – 2nd wicket stand 166* with Irfan Ali 100* – Total 173/1 (25.2 ov)
Game 3 Canada v Nepal (Game reduced to 41 overs per side)
CAN Trevin Bastiampillai 1 – 2nd wicket stand 1 – Total 255/9 (41 ov)
NEP Gyanendra Malla 86 – 2nd wicket stand 83 with – Total 243/8 (41 ov)
Game 4 Canada v Scotland
SCO Matt Machan 68 – 2nd wicket stand 144 with Calum MacLeod 175 – Total 341/9 (50 ov)
CAN Zeeshan Siddiqui 7 – 2nd wicket stand 37 with Nitish Kumar 26 – Total 171 (39.2 ov)
Summary – ICC Global World Cricket League – Kenya 2007
Game 1 Canada v The Netherlands – Jan 30, 2007 at Ruaraka Sports Club, Nairobi
CAN Ashish Bagai 74 – 2nd wicket stand 0 – Total: 200 (44 ov)
NET Luuk van Troost 39 – 2nd wicket stand 72 with Bas Zuiderent 77* – Total 201/2 (35 ov)
Game 2 Canada v Scotland – Jan 31, 2007 at Ruaraka Sports Club, Nairobi
SCO Ryan Watson 27 – 2nd wicket stand 44 with Fraser Watts 70 – Total 276/4 (50 ov)
CAN Ashish Bagai 137* – 2nd wicket stand 71 with Abdool Samad 32 – Total 269/9 (50 ov)
Game 3 Canada v Bermuda – Feb 2, 2007 at Gymkhana Club, Nairobi
Note : Game reduced to 21 overs per side by wet outfield
CAN John Davison 69* – 2nd wicket stand 1 – Total 162/8 (21 ov)
BER Lionel Cann 41 – 2nd wicket stand 17 – Total 106 (15.5 ov)
Game 4 Canada v Ireland – Feb 4, 2007 at Jaffery Sports Club, Nairobi
IRE Eion Morgan 115 – 2nd wicket stand 5 – Total 308/5 (50 ov)
CAN Ashish Bagai 122 – 2nd wicket stand 84 with Abdool Samad 42 – Total 312/4 (49.4 ov)
Game 5 Canada v Kenya – Feb 5, 2007 at Jaffery Sports Club, Nairobi
KEN Ravi Shah 39 – 2nd wicket stand 5 – Total 250/9 (50 ov)
CAN Desmond Chumney 7 – 2nd wicket stand 22 (10 balls) – Total 92 (14.5 ov)
Compiled by Eddie Norfolk with scoring information sourced from Cricinfo and Cricket Archive.