CricketEurope Canada Launch

If you've noticed I haven't updated in a while, the reason is twofold. Firstly, there is not much going on presently in Canadian National cricket, as the summer season has concluded. The second reason though is that I have been working on the new Canada section on CricketEurope. This expansion is seeking to make CE the best coverage of associate cricket in the world. It also includes a section on Kenya, edited by our friend Nick Deverell and a section on Bermuda which is being run by Andrew Nixon. Our pages include both international and domestic coverage, and I will be covering the Premier and First divisions of the Toronto & District, BC Mainland, and Calgary & District Leagues. Hopefully this will be a successful venture and lead to much more available information on non-Test cricket.

As for this blog, I will keep it going but it will become more of an opinion page with the information side moving to CricketEurope. When there is live coverage, for example, that will take place on CE, but then my personal thoughts as to who played well and how the crowd could have been better would appear here. So keep popping by here, and head over to CricketEurope and read all the great writing and coverage there.

Canada fall to Bermuda

For the second time in as many matches, the Canadian Women's team failed to chase a reachable target and lost to Bermuda. This loss means that Bermuda win the series 2-1 and proceed to the World Cup Qualifying Tournament, while Canada will be left pondering what went wrong for them.

Bermuda won the toss and chose to bat, and you had to think it was advantage Canada throughout their innings. Opener Britney Marshall made only 19 runs today, and the highest score posted was Terry-Lynn Paynter with 21 runs. Canada bowled out Bermuda for just 127 runs and had to feel the game was intheir grasp at that point. The total could have been much lower but for some inaccurate bowling by the home side as a whopping 45 extras were gifted to Bermuda.

Again, as the only source I have is Islandstats there are no details available about the Canadian innings. Needless to say, they had a disappointing innings and were bowled out just 3 runs shy of the target. Canada will have to be bitterly disappointed in the result of this series. They won the first match and then failed to chase low targets of 160 and 128 in the subsequent contests.

More details on the Canadian innings whenever they are available. Last time they were posted 2 days later.

Bermuda even the series in Victoria

On Monday, the Bermudian women's team bounced back to even the series with Canada at a game each. The series, the winner of which goes to the final World Cup qualifiers, will be decided on Friday September 8th in Victoria when the third and final one-day match is played.

Bermuda won the toss and chose to bat first. It looked for a while like a disastrous choice as Canada's bowlers came out like gangbusters. Bermuda was reeling at 41-6 and it was looking like an early day for the home side. But opener Britney Marshall was stubborn and would not go down. She marshalled the tail masterfully and added an unbeaten 86 runs in taking Bermuda to 159 all out in 41 overs. Not a great total, but one which could be defended by the visitors.

Canada's innings also started poorly and, though I wasn't there, I assume it was a bowler's pitch. After 32 overs Canada were 75-6. From there it was an uphill battle to get to the target. Wickets continued to fall and the last one was a simple run out. Canada finished 135 all out from 45.4 overs. Reuna Richardson led the bowlers taking 3 wickets for 24 runs. Chevonne Furbert and Terry-Lynn Paynter each contributed 2-19.

So it all comes down to the 3rd match on Friday. Hopefully it is a good one, and hopefully more information is available. The reason I have more information about Bermuda's batting and bowling is because that is all Islandstats publishes. Again, if anyone is around Victoria and could somehow get scores and information to me, it would be much appreciated.

Canada beat Bermuda in World Cup Qualifier

On the women's side, that is. Yesterday in Victoria, BC, Canada took the first of three one-day matches and have already done better than their male counterparts did against the Bermudians. Bermuda won the toss and chose to bat first. They started well, but Canada's bowlers made a strong comeback to bowl out the visitors for 201 runs off of just 41.1 overs. Claire Abbott led the Canadian attack taking 4 wickets for 32 runs. Reuna Richardson was the best bat for Bermuda scoring 61 not out.

Canada's reply was a patient one, and they reached their target, scoring 203 for 5 wickets from 46.1 overs. A very balanced batting innings from Canada, as their top scorer was Kim Coulter with 31 runs. Ave Mogan and Helene Gaffney both contributed 27 to the cause.

This result is a welcome one, and it's nice to hear some news about the women's team. As with the men's team, there seems to be little recognition of this event outside the cricket community. Also, as I am quite a distance from Victoria, I am unable to find anything out beyond the pieces posted on Canada Cricket's website. If there is anyone out there who is reading this, feel free to fire up a comment about what the crowds were like. The next match goes tomorrow, September 4th. The winner of this three-match series will go to the 2009 Women's World Cup