Canada @ 2023 Qualifier Playoff

[ray]

Canada have claimed a spot in the preliminary tournament before the 2023 ICC World Cup Qualifier (Zimbabwe).

Timeframe: March/April 2023 (March 24- April 5 - from Czarsportz: https://czarsportzauto.com/2023-icc-cwc ... -play-off/)
Likely Match status: ODIs
Teams:
Canada (Challenge League A winner)
Jersey (Challenge League B winner)
Papua New Guinea (CWC League 2)

Likely opponents:
USA (CWC League 2)
Nepal (CWC League 2)
one of Namibia, United Arab Emirates (CWC League 2)

[timmyj51]

Namibia has now bumped "Team USA" out of the top three in CWC.
UAB could possibly (but highly unlikely) leapfrog Namibia so the
pre-qualifier should be pretty much set. Can only see UAB causing
"Team USA" and Canucks any problems taking the top two places.

[ray]

Globe article saying the QP tournament will be held in Namibia starting in March. Hope Namibia do finish top 3 in League 2 so they don't play and host yet another important ICC qualifier tourney.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/ ... /#comments

This tournament will be Canada's first ODIs since 2014.

[Victorian]

I’ve heard that Canada will go to Sri Lanka for a month (!) before going to Namibia for the tournament.

[ray]

^ If memory serves Canada's preparations for the 2019 qualifier included extensive preparations in Sri Lanka. Then the team returned home before going on another tour to South Africa prior to heading to Namibia for the crucial tournament. Somewhere along the line the players were over-worked or lost their focus and started very poorly. They could not recover. I hope CC has learned the lesson - it is a fine line between adequate preparation and too much.

[ray]

Sri Lanka and Namibia tours confirmed by Cricket Canada . Details will be given soon.

The Namibia leg should involve matches against WCL2 teams. Canada need to test themselves against teams (perhaps Namibia) at the same level as they will face in the Qualifier Playoff.

Update:
March 3-22 tour to Sri Lanka with four 50 over matches to be played. No warm-up matches in Namibia, which may be a mistake. Have to hope the coach can impart the mental toughness needed to win. Canada lacked this in 2019.

The good news is Dhaliwal is back.

https://www.cricketcanada.org/news-deta ... -Qualifier!

[ray]

Preliminary squad for tour (14 of 16 will be named to final team for QP):
Saad Bin Zafar (Captain)
Navneet Dhaliwal
Nikhil Dutta
Jeremy Gordon
Dilon Heyliger
Aaron Johnson
Ammar Khalid
Nicholas Kirton
Parveen Kumar
Shreyas Movva
Kaleem Sana
Pargat Singh
Ravinderpal Singh
Matthew Spoors
Harsh Thaker
Srimantha Wijeyeratne

I expect Bin Zafar, Dhaliwal, Khalid, Thaker and Wijeyeratne will be critical to qualification. Johnson could also be important to put runs on the board but might be "hit and miss" in terms of success. Speaking of hit and miss, I have the least confidence in Spoors and Kirton for the final squad. The latter's poor form under pressure is well known and though Spoors is strong in the field, he never seems to quite come off with the bat.

[Victorian]

FB giving schedule v SRC development team
Mar 4, 13, 14, 20

[ray]

^ I hope this will be adequate. The team not only have to get back to playing outdoors and finding 50 over fitness, but also have to be ready for ruthless competition. It appears some of their competition are benefiting from very tough scraps in WCL2. I would be preferable for Canada to prepare against the likes of who they'll face instead of a development side. We'll see whether this is sufficient ...

[Victorian]

Well today is March 7 and I can't find a score on the INTERNET! for Canada vs SLC Development. The CC app shows CWC Challenge League B happening in Feb. 2023 in Burlington and St Catherines