Canada's Journey to the World Cup

Canada’s third appearance at the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies is a reflection of the history of the game in Canada over the past forty plus years.  Canadian cricket began to flourish at the national level in the 1960’s, prompted by the Canada-USA series and a visit by the MCC in 1967. 

In 1975 the Australians toured Canada on their way to the first ever World Cup, The Australians played games in British Columbia and Ontario, where they were defeated by an Eastern Canada eleven.  The publicity and interest generated served to spur enthusiasm and led to the subsequent participation by Canada in the 15 nations ICC Trophy (1979) qualification series. The ICC trophy final between Sri Lanka and Canada produced 588 runs in 120 overs, with Sri Lanka scoring 324 for 8 and Canada falling short with 264 for 5.  Some of the major participants were Duleep Mendes, Ranjan Madugalle for the winners, Cecil Marshall and John Vaughan for Canada. 

The two finalists from this competition, Canada and Sri Lanka, were invited to join the six test playing countries in the World Cup, which was called the Prudential Cup at that time.  Canada was grouped with Pakistan, England and Australia.  Although Canada was outplayed, there were some memorable moments.  John Valentine bowled the Pakistan star, Majid Khan, for one, and in another game trapped the English captain Mike Brearley 1bw for a duck.  Not to be outdone, Glenroy Sealy drove the first ball from the great Imran Khan for four, and in a subsequent encounter dispatched Aussie paceman Rodney Hogg, for four consecutive fours. 

Canada had mixed success in the ICC Trophy competition after 1979 and with the emergence of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kenya and Zimbabwe and the return of South Africa to the international scene, it was difficult to make it to the top tier. 

The field for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, (with some games in Zimbabwe and Kenya), was increased to fourteen, which opened three spots for the 2001 ICC Trophy participants.  Canada performed well when it mattered most, and handily defeated Scotland for 3^rd place, joining Holland and Namibia in qualifying for the premier event.

With two years to prepare, Canada was able to field a credible side which included a trio of Canadian-born foreign residents; John Davison, Ian Billcliff and Nicholas De Groote; along with promising youngsters, Ashish Bagai, Abdul Samad, Austin Codrington and national team stalwarts Davis Joseph, Barry Seebaran and skipper Joe Harris. 

South Africa was an incredible experience for the Canadian team.  The efforts of the organizing committee headed by Dr. Ali Bacher and those of the ICC and its High Performance program must be recognized.  Although there were hiccups, with New Zealand refusing to play in Nairobi and England defaulting their game in Harare, the arrangements, accommodation, transportation, security, grounds and hospitality were all first rate. 

Following the spectacular opening ceremonies at Newlands, the Canadian team travelled to Durban, a seaside city with a large population of people of South Asian origin to face Bangladesh.  Winning the toss would be crucial in this day/night encounter as the ball would swing quite a bit more in the evening breeze. Canada won the toss and finished with 180 in 49.1 overs.  Bangladesh started carefully but lost 3 quick wickets.  The young Bangladeshis recovered to reach 106 for 4, only to subsequently collapse to an all-out 120 in 28 overs.  Canada’s Davison took 2 key wickets, and Austin Codrington had a remarkable spell of 5 for 27 in 9 overs to become a worthy Man of the Match. 

The victory was a historical mark for Canada.  The team received considerable acclaim and followed up with a suitable celebration.  Canada was on a high looking forward to challenging Kenya at Cape Town in another day/night game.  Canada again won the toss, and behind strong efforts by Billcliff (71) Davison (31) and Harris (31) posted 197 in 49 overs.

Kenya dropped an early wicket, but an opportunity was lost when opener Shah was dropped early in his innings.  He would go on to score 61, while Skipper Tikolo contributed 42.  Eventually Kenya struggled home to victory in 48.3 overs with the loss of 6 wickets.

Canada’s first test against a major opponent was in Boland Park, Paarl a bucolic, relaxed setting in the wine country.  Canada was anything but relaxed, and were dismissed in 18 overs for 36, the lowest score ever in one-day cricket.  Sri Lanka knocked off the runs in 4 overs to gain a positive advantage towards their net run rate.  The one sided loss was a major disappointment to the team and the many school pupils who were in attendance. 

Surprisingly after this major setback the team was upbeat and looking forward to the next game.  Whether it was because the opponents were the West Indies, the former homeland of many of the players, coach and manager, or simply an opportunity to put the Sri Lanka loss in the past was difficult to say. Nevertheless, the team bounced back with a respectable effort. 

After West Indies put Canada in to bat, opener Davison struck for the most exhilarating innings in World Cup history.  He scored 111 in 22 overs, his century coming in 67 balls –7 fours and 6 sixes, and was the ultimate Man of the Match.  Canada finished with 202, however unfortunately  the West Indies had their own fireworks in store.  Lara, with 73 runs featuring 8 fours and 5 sixes and Hinds 64 (10 fours and 3 sixes) put on a show, and the Windies took only 20 overs to eclipse the Canadian total.   

John Davison claimed Man of the Match honours, giving the Canadian team two such awards in their first four World Cup matches. 

Canada then flew to the seaside town of East London to meet the home team, South Africa, which had by then been eliminated from advancing to the Super Six.  South Africa stumbled to 23 for 3, but rallied to 254.  Canada, realizing the chances of surpassing the total was slim, elected to play spoilers and bat out the innings.  The Canadians posted 136 in 50 overs, and Ishwar Maraj garnered another World Cup record for Canada by batting throughout the innings for 53 runs scored in 155 balls. 

The final game against New Zealand was not without drama.  The Kiwis were hoping to improve their net run rate and asked Canada to bat after winning the toss.  Davison got off to another flying start and had the Kiwis wondering if he was for real.   He raced to 75 in 62 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes.  Canada was all out for 196 in 47 overs, but the Canadian bowling was unable to stem the New Zealand attack.  The All Blacks reached the target in 23 overs for the loss of 5 wickets, however Davison followed up his splendid batting with 3 wickets in 10 overs, and was once again named Man of the Match. 

Canada’s performance in the 2003 World Cup was very credible.  Apart from the Sri Lanka game, the Canadian side was very competitive defeating Bangladesh and narrowly losing to Kenya in a game they probably should have won.  John Davison was decidedly the player of the series, but was ably supported by others. The majority of the team had been playing together for some time including the Sri Lanka tour in January 2001, the ICC 2001 trophy, a number of Red Stripe tournaments and the Six Nations tournament in Namibia.  This helped immensely in developing a sense of teamwork and friendships that transcended the cricket on the field, and was ultimately reflected in the overall performance by the closely knit group of players.

The Canada 2007 World Cup Team may appear somewhat stronger on paper: the youngsters,Ashish Bagai,Abdool Samad,Umar Bhatti,Kevin Sandher and Asif Mulla have been blooded, and the seniors John Davison, Ian Billcliff, Desmond Chumney and Austin Codrington have a wealth of experience . The major question to be determined is whether one or more of the players can step up and dominate as John Davison so admirably did in 2003.