NEWSWIRE

CANADA DEFEAT NAMIBIA

CANADA INCH PAST WITH 7 BALLS TO SPARE
WCL CHAMPIONSHIP
CC STAFF
April 10, 2012

A gutsy 35 run partnership from former Canadian u19 captain Rustam Bhatti (23*) and Durand Soraine (12*) inched Canada past Namibia in a tight finish at Wanderers.

Canada started positively in their run chase of 184 and were well positioned at 0-35 in 7.3 overs before the loss of Patel for 26 runs wobbled the upper middle order that saw Zeashan Siddiqui (7), Ruvindu Gunasekera (12), and Niitsh Kumar (5) all dismissed within a 5 over period. Canada, now positioned at 55-4, received consolidation from the bat of Jimmy Hansra (49) who combined for a hard fought partnership with Usman Limbada to bring the game back into focus.  Losing Limbada early in the 29th over, Hansra continued with Junaid Siddiqui (11)  and Rustam Bhatti before being dismissed in the 42nd over with Canada requiring 35 runs from 47 balls. 

With the victory, Canada will earn its first two points in the World Cricket League Championship tables in which the top two teams automatically qualify for the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia.

Canadian Head Coach Michael Dighton had the following post match comments:
 
"A solid bowling performance enabled us to exact revenge for the ICUP loss on Sunday. After winning the toss and sending Namibia in, Osinde and Sorraine were fantastic with the new ball and decimated the top order. We spoke about the need to hit the wicket hard on a good length and making the batters play early in their innings as there was some extra bounce and carry on offer. Junaid Siddiqui caught well in the cordon and Nitish took a one hander at cover to remove Burger, the mainstay of Namibias' batting."
 
DIghton continued.
 
"Our chase got off to a wonderful start through Hiral and Ruvindu but we lost 3 wickets in the 10-20 over phase to make things slightly difficult for ourselves. Jimmy and Usman played sensibly and put the chase back on target, however we kept losing wickets through some ordinary shot selection whenever we looked like taking the game out of Namibias' reach. In the end it was an excellent innings from Bhatti that got us over the line in the penultimate over. He was very well supported by Durand who completed an outstanding game."  

Canada will close out the Namibia tour with a 50 over WCL fixture on Thursday.

SCORECARD

Namibia Innings

Canada are chasing 184 to win in the first of two 50 over matches with Namibia. Winning the toss and electing to field, the Canadian opening battery of Henry Osinde (2-46) & Durand Sorain (3-25) pegged back the aggressive Namibians who struggled throughout their top order. Raymond van Schoor (90) remained the only notable resistance to the Canadian attack.