MCC Begins Canada’s Leg Tour With Two T20 Wins Over CanAm

By Ravi Madholall in Toronto
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) began their Canada’s leg of their North America tour with two handsome T20 victories against a CanAm team on Wednesday at Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club ground.

In the first match, the visitors fashioned their way to a solid 42-run win while in the second encounter, they romped home by a comprehensive nine-wicket margin.

England’s veteran players Charlotte Edwards and Claire Taylor were on show and produced some impressive performances to be instrumental on day one in Canada. Taylor only made 10 but her leadership qualities were very palpable.

She won the toss and opted to take first strike in hazy conditions but her side ably reached a satisfactory 121-5 at the expiration of the 20-overs. CanAm, in reply, struggled to 79-9 when the overs ran out.

Aylish Cranstone led the batting for MCC with a stylist 48 which counted seven fours while she received good support from Sarah McCann who made 23. Opener Emma Godman showed nice aggression scoring 16 before she became Achini Perera’s second victim. Perera ended with two for 14 from four right-arm medium-pace overs.

When the Canada/ America combination batted, opening batter Shebani Bhaskar scored a fighting 40 that contained five fours while Miryam Khokhar was the other player to reach double-figure as five women went without scoring.

The 36-year-old Edwards, who has so far featured in an amazing 23 tests, 191 one-day internationals and 95 T20s for England, was the pick of the bowler and subsequently claimed the player-of-match award with 3-11 from three probing overs.

Nicole Richards, a pacer, grabbed two wickets for two runs from four economical overs as the CanAm team found themselves tottering at 76-7 and never recovered against a consistent penetrative bowling attack.

In the second game, MCC made light work of them having inserted CanAm to take first knock on a pitch that deteriorated quite alarmingly in a much-improved weather conditions with steady sunshine.

CanAm only gathered up an insufficient 101-5 from the allocation of 20-overs with 15-year-old Perera scoring an impressive, unbeaten 47. No other batter was able to make an impression with the bat as wickets felt with a great degree of frequency.

Sixty-two-year-old Judy Wilmot was the leading light in the bowling department for MCC as she grabbed three wickets for 19 runs from her four-over spell.

When MCC chased down the target, they raced to 71-1 in just 10.3 overs with opener Raveena Lakhtaria scoring an attractive, undefeated 37 while Charlotte Williams made 18 with Edwards leaving on 18 when victory was achieved.

MCC will be in action again at the same venue on Thursday but against a Canada Select X1.

They will conclude their Canada tour with another limited-over encounter against the Canada Select X1 at King City on Sunday.

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