Canada Humble USA At World Cup 50-Overs Qualifiers By 26 Runs
Canada humbled arch-rivals USA by 26 runs in their World Cup 50-overs Qualifiers match on Wednesday in Namibia.
Canada took first strike at the invitation of their North American neighbors and rattled up a competitive 198 all out in 49.4 overs while USA responded with 172 in the 48th over.
Opener Aaron Johnson led the way for the Canadians with 47 which lasted for 52 balls and counted six fours and a six. He got valuable support from Harsh Thaker with 43. Nicolas Kirton and Ravinderpaul Singh also played key roles to make 35 and 26 respectively.
Left-arm seamer Saurabh Netravalkar grabbed 2-24 from ten economical overs while high-profile pacer Ali Khan and left-arm spinner Nisarg Patel also snapped up two wickets each.
In USA’s innings, Sushant Modani offered a fight with 64 and 28 from Nosthush Kenjige.
Quickie Kaleem Sana provided early impetus for Canada and finished with impressive figures of 3-14 from nine tidy overs while experienced captain Saad Bin Zafar claimed 3-43 from his maximum ten overs bowling left-arm spin. Thaker complemented a fine all-round performance by taking 2-30 in his ten-over outing.
Canada now have two wins from as many matches. USA opened the six-team tournament with victory over the hosts and left with a win and defeat.
The action is set to continue Thursday with a double-header. USA will clash with United Arab Emirates (UAE) while Namibia meeting up Jersey. Canada’s next fixture is Saturday against UAE.
The top two teams in the competition will advance to another qualifying segment before they gain World Cup Qualification. The big dance is billed for later this year in India.
Meanwhile, in the other match played on Wednesday, Namibia got the better Papua New Guinea (PNG) by 48 runs in a game of high-scoring proportion.
Namibia piled up a massive 381-8 with skipper Gerhard Eramus making 125. PNG replied with 333 all out in the 47th over, thanks to a good effort from Charles Amini who made 109.
