Canada Day saw the national team lose to the rising stars of associate cricket, Afghanistan, in the opening match of the World Cricket League, division 1, tournament in the Netherlands. A good batting performance by Canada was overshadowed by a better one from the Afgans who won with an over to spare.<\/p>\n
Canada batted first and made 257 for 7 from their fifty overs. The captain led from the front, with a steady 82 from 122 balls- he and Patel (43) put on 88 after Cheema and Surkari had departed cheaply. Useful contributions from Hansra on his ODI debut and Bhatti took Canada to a decent total.<\/p>\n
The Afghans got off to a slow start but with wickets intact started to accelerate at one point being 135 for 1 until pegged back by two run-outs. Desai and Dhaniram \u00a0bowled economically (9 overs for 34 runs and 10 overs for 37 runs) and Hooper and Chohan looked dangerous. canada clawed their way back into contention but a fine innings of 70* by Nowroz Mangal took the match for Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
In other matches Ireland easily beat Kenya, and Scotland beat Netherlands in an extraordinary finish, with a dropped catch from the penultimate ball, followed by 2 wides to allow Scotland the win.<\/p>\n