Canada continue to wallow at the crease
It was going to be different today. Canada were clear favourites heading in, having seen the Cayman Islands get walloped by the Americans yesterday. When John Davison and Sandeep Jyoti strode to the wicket, it was going to be a big session for them, and Canada would put up a formidable total.
It wasn't.
Canada once again struggled mightily in their batting and failed to break 200 runs for the fourth time in five home one-day matches this season. Canada was lazy with the bat, and that resulted in a series of edges and clean bowlings seeing them reduced to 46-5 when captain Davison was retired. The wickets continued to fall, and it was only a wonderful, strong innings by George Codrington that allowed Canada to post any kind of score. Granted, the pitch was green, and quite wet in the morning, which lead to a lot of movement off the seam. However Canada had to realize this after seeing a couple of men taken out, and should have been more vigilant in their defending. Say what you will about Codrington, but this man is a solid batsman and a gutsy man! He was treated for a knock on the hand about midway through his innings but continued to rack up runs and try to save Canada. At lunch, he made a trip to the hospital and came back with tape on the fingers - a fracture and possibly ruptured tendons - a good old Canadian boy, playing through the pain!!! Eventually though, he ran out of partners and Canada was all out for 187. Another note here, Canada have yet to make it through 50 overs of batting in a one-day during this home season.
The pitch started changing around the 35th over of Canada's innings, and continued to do so through lunch. The wetness went away as the sun came up and quite strong winds began to blow. By the time the Caymans came to bat, it was a much more batsman-friendly place to be. The openers took advantage avoiding the early wicket Canada was looking for and got to 56 runs for the first wicket. The second wicket fell quickly thereafter, and Canada thought a collapse was imminent!!! But it wasn't, as the Caymans didn't lose another wicket all day and knocked off the total in just over 40 overs. Canada's bowling was not great, aside from Kevin Welsh who bowled very well. The problem for Canada is that they have left out their top two pace bowlers from this tournament. For some reason unknown to me (and I HOPE it isn't just 'because') both Umar Bhatti and Henry Osinde are not playing this week. Can you imagine an attack where Welsh is the third paceman rather than the first? Looks pretty unstoppable to me...
In any case, high marks to Cayman for doing what they needed to do, starting with winning the toss and having Canada bat first. High marks also to Kevin Welsh and George Codrington for their performances, with ball and bat respectively. The rest of the Canadian side have some work to do. They have time to do it, as Canada has the bye tomorrow and Thursday is a rest day for the tournament. Canada's next action is Friday against Argentina and they have to prepare adequately for it. The Argentine batting proved more than capable as they put up 260-4 against Bermuda today. If Canada's batting comes up lame again they may be fighting for the wooden spoon rather than the trophy.
It wasn't.
Canada once again struggled mightily in their batting and failed to break 200 runs for the fourth time in five home one-day matches this season. Canada was lazy with the bat, and that resulted in a series of edges and clean bowlings seeing them reduced to 46-5 when captain Davison was retired. The wickets continued to fall, and it was only a wonderful, strong innings by George Codrington that allowed Canada to post any kind of score. Granted, the pitch was green, and quite wet in the morning, which lead to a lot of movement off the seam. However Canada had to realize this after seeing a couple of men taken out, and should have been more vigilant in their defending. Say what you will about Codrington, but this man is a solid batsman and a gutsy man! He was treated for a knock on the hand about midway through his innings but continued to rack up runs and try to save Canada. At lunch, he made a trip to the hospital and came back with tape on the fingers - a fracture and possibly ruptured tendons - a good old Canadian boy, playing through the pain!!! Eventually though, he ran out of partners and Canada was all out for 187. Another note here, Canada have yet to make it through 50 overs of batting in a one-day during this home season.
The pitch started changing around the 35th over of Canada's innings, and continued to do so through lunch. The wetness went away as the sun came up and quite strong winds began to blow. By the time the Caymans came to bat, it was a much more batsman-friendly place to be. The openers took advantage avoiding the early wicket Canada was looking for and got to 56 runs for the first wicket. The second wicket fell quickly thereafter, and Canada thought a collapse was imminent!!! But it wasn't, as the Caymans didn't lose another wicket all day and knocked off the total in just over 40 overs. Canada's bowling was not great, aside from Kevin Welsh who bowled very well. The problem for Canada is that they have left out their top two pace bowlers from this tournament. For some reason unknown to me (and I HOPE it isn't just 'because') both Umar Bhatti and Henry Osinde are not playing this week. Can you imagine an attack where Welsh is the third paceman rather than the first? Looks pretty unstoppable to me...
In any case, high marks to Cayman for doing what they needed to do, starting with winning the toss and having Canada bat first. High marks also to Kevin Welsh and George Codrington for their performances, with ball and bat respectively. The rest of the Canadian side have some work to do. They have time to do it, as Canada has the bye tomorrow and Thursday is a rest day for the tournament. Canada's next action is Friday against Argentina and they have to prepare adequately for it. The Argentine batting proved more than capable as they put up 260-4 against Bermuda today. If Canada's batting comes up lame again they may be fighting for the wooden spoon rather than the trophy.
posted by JWilly at
8:27 p.m.
2 Comments:
Jon, I guess it must be pretty annoying for you being a Canadian cricket follower given their recent performances, not to mention the dubious team selections...Though I can make out from your report that Canada were at a clear disadvantage having lost the toss and asked to bat first on a green top, that cannot justify such a poor effort against a Cayman Islands outfit looking to make it to the WCL Div III tournament next year..
Do you have any idea why Osinde and Bhatti weren't a part of the lineup and why Canada keep selecting different teams for the 4-day and 1-day games when it's clear that the 1-day team isn't producing any results?...Is it that the selectors want to try out more options before zeroing in on the final World Cup squad?
By
Anonymous, at 3:35 a.m.
Sorry about the Welsh/Sandher mixup. I don't know why, but even whilst doing my commentary I continually typed Kevin Welsh and had to fix it. Weird.
As for Bhatti and Osinde, I don't know why they were not selected. I think the selectors are trying out some new bodies, but this is not the time to do that!!! This should have been done last year, and now you should go with your team and try to gel together for the World Cup. Silliness. Also, why you would bring in a new wicketkeeper who (a) bats 8th and (b) is not as good a keeper as Bagai is beyond me.
But lets look at the positives, with the demonstration by STEVEN Welsh, he has established himself as the frontrunner for that third pace spot in Canada's attack. Austin Codrington has also asserted himself well (if a bit wild at times) and is, in my books, a good replacement if any of the 3 get innjured.
By
JWilly, at 10:13 a.m.
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