Canada played their 6th and last group match of the World Cup 2011. While the start of their inning shocked the mighty Australian bowling and the World, the tame defeat showed why they are minnows. Yet, their performance did show that they are one of the best minnows.
Oldest and Youngest Players of WC 2011 in Canadian Team
The Canadian 2011 World Cup team had the oldest (40-yr old) and youngest (17-yr old) members of the World Cup squads. The oldest player of the tournament and their best-ever player Davison announced retirement after 2011 World Cup. Their team was dubbed as the team of foreigners, with only one player in their team being native.
History of Canada in Cricket World Cups
Performanc in 2011
In the first three matches, they were dubbed as the team with decent bowling attack that lacks good batsmen as they could not even reach 150. After that their performance did improve. Their batsmen pitched in. Yet, occasional performers meant as a team they could never be taken as serious match winners. Hansra, Bagai, the captain, Patel and Baidwan showed exceptional performances. But, they lacked support. Except Baidwan and Patel none of them were consistent for more than 2-3 matches.
Set Backs
They came to the tournament banking on Davison as their key player and Rizwan Cheema as the best allrounder who can hit any bowler out of the park on his day. Unfortunately their days never came during 6 matches. Davison scored just 33 runs in 5 innings and took 5 wickets. Cheema scored 76 runs in 6 matches and took 6 wickets.
Best Performers
Baidwan, Hansra, Bagai and H Patel stand out as their best performers of the tournament. After 6 matches Baidwan had taken 13 wickets, becoming the second highest wicket-taker of the tournament after Shahid Afridi.
Average Performers
Besides Bagai and Hansra, only Surkari – the opener – could reach 100 mark in 6 innings. Balaji Rao with 9 wickets showed signs of good spinner. Osinde and Balaji took 4 wickets each in one inning, best performance by Canadian bowlers during an inning.
What was Good
H Patel as attacking opener, Bagai (as wicketkeeper) and Hansra at middle order, Baidwan as opening bowler and Balaji Rao as spinner performed well.
What was Bad
Their dependency on Davison and Rizwan Cheema to get winning chances costed them at least one match. They kept losing matches and with that kept experimenting the position of their stars Davison and Cheema. Unfortunately, both stars could not give any exceptional performances. Canada should learn that even stars have assigned role in team game. They cannot be placed anywhere with the hope that they will play for team also. As H Patel and others showed if given the opportunity they could have joined hands with star performers to give better results for the team.
Where Now from Here
Probably 2015 World Cup, if they develop the positives and reduce the negatives in an effort to improve the team. But, if they want to develop Cricket in Canada, their aim should be higher than just qualifying for World Cups. They should remember that Sri Lanka also started playing World Cups around 1979 (1975 was their first) as Associate Nations and get motivated by the current status of Sri Lanka in World Cricket.
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