Canada opened the World Cricket League Division 2 tournament with a loss to pre-tournament favourites the Netherlands. The Netherlands made 251/7 after being asked to bat; Canada contained them well until the last 10 overs when Baresi’s hard hitting (83 from 61 balls) gave the Netherlands the upper hand. In reply Canada’s batting struggled against 20 year old Kingma who took four cheap wickets, assisted in part by some unwise shots from the Canadian upper order. Hamza Tariq made 61 to earn a degree of respectability but Canada fell well short, bowled out for 184.
Canada won the toss and Jimmy Hansra decided to field first. Late arrivals Cheema and Kumar were included in the team. Ben Cooper (57) got the Dutch off to a steady start with 100 on the board for the loss of just one wicket after 26 overs. Pervez and Cheema both bowled economically, Pervez taking the early wicket. Canada fought back into the game, with wickets to Dutta, Desai and Dhindsa. Rippon and Baresi put on exactly 50 before the partnership was broken by Desai. Canada’s hopes of restricting the Netherlands were dashed by Baresi who made 83 from 61 balls including three boundaries as Cheema conceded 21 from the last over. He had been dropped on 14 off Cheema, but overall the Canadians fielded well. Netherlands final total of 251/7 represented a real challenge for the Canadian bats. Desai took 3 wickets but conceded 57 runs, and Pervez took 2/35.
Kumar and Wijeratne opened for Canada and made a cautious start, with just 15 runs on the board after 6 overs, but then the scoring rate increased, Wijeratne hitting Mudassar Bukhari for six. They put on 30 before Kumar (14) was caught top edging a pull shot. Gunasekera, coming off a match winning century in Canada’s last warm-up match made a duck (again a top edge attempting to pull), and Jimmy Hansra 10, leaving Canada struggling at 55/3. Wijeratne received little support as Dhaliwal made just 6, and Cheema was out from a top edged cross batted shot from the second ball he faced. The first four wickets fell to 20 year-old Vivian Kingma, who took 4/31 from his ten overs. When Wijeratne was leg before for 35, Canada were 79/6 and out of the match. Hamza Tariq and Dutta (13 from 48 balls) opted for defence, with only 3 runs coming from overs 24-28. Dutta broke a 10 over sequence without a boundary with a straight drive in the 31st over and another boundary from Tariq brought up the hundred. After Dutta was dismissed, and with the required run rate over 10, Tariq and Dhindsa hit out taking 37 from 3 overs. Hamza Tariq reached his half-century from 51 balls but eventually was bowled for 61 trying to sweep Rippon. Dhindsa (24) hit a couple of sixes in a lost cause, before Rippon wound up the match by dismissing him and Pervez with consecutive deliveries. Canada were all out for 189 with four overs unused.
In other matches Namibia beat Kenya by 5 wickets, thanks to 97 from Baard. Uganda narrowly beat Nepal in a match that came down to the last ball.