By Canadian Press

Canada suffers costly cricket loss to Namibia in ICC World Cup Qualifier Playoff

Apr 4, 2023 | 8:52 AM

WINDHOEK, Namibia — Canada suffered a costly 111-run defeat to Namibia on Tuesday at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff.

The Namibia event serves as the penultimate stage of the qualification process for the 2023 World Cup. The top two teams progress to the final qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in June that will determine the last two participants in the 10-team World Cup in India in October.

Canada (2-2-0, four points) dropped into fourth place in the six-team table, with one game remaining against Papua New Guinea (0-4-0) on Wednesday.

The Canadians cannot catch the U.S. (4-1-0, eight points), which dispatched Jersey (1-3-0, two points) by 25 runs on Tuesday.

Namibia (3-2-0, six points) stands second, ahead of the United Arab Emirates (3-1-0, six points) on superior net run rate. The Emirates can also move out of reach of Canada with a win over Jersey on Wednesday.

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Canada opened with wins over Jersey and the U.S., by 31 and 26 runs respectively, before losing by six wickets to the United Arab Emirates — with just six balls remaining — on Saturday.

The World Cup is the international championship of one-day cricket, with teams playing 50-over matches.

The Canadian men last played at the World Cup in 2011, missing out in 2015 and ’19. Canada has taken part in four of the previous 12 World Cups, never making it out of the first round.

Namibia won the toss and elected to bat, setting Canada a challenging total at Wanderers Cricket Ground as it finished its allotted 50 overs at 267 for nine wickets. Opener Shaun Fouche led the host side’s batting attack with an innings of 83 off 107 balls before being caught. He slammed seven fours and one six.

Bowlers Kaleem Sala and Harsh Thaker each took two wickets for Canada.

After losing opening Aaron Johnson, for 15 runs, with just 26 runs on the board, Canada steadied its batting attack and did not concede another wicket until fellow opener Matthew Spoors (32 runs) was bowled with Canada’s total at 64.

Canadian wickets began to fall quickly, with four more batters removed, including captain Saad Bin Zafar (two runs), before Canada reached the 100-run mark.

Pargat Singh, the No. 3 batsman, and Ravinderpal Singh, the No. 8, each had 34 runs for Canada. Dillon Heyliger made his one-day international debut for Canada.

Canada worked hard to get to this stage, advancing to the Namibia event by finishing atop League A in the six-country World Cup Challenge League with a 13-1-0 record with one no-result.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 4, 2023

The Canadian Press