Dhaniram And Seonarine Pilot West Indies Over-50 To Victory Against Canada

Ravendra Madholall In Canada
Sunil Dhaniram and Vijay Seonarine churned out outstanding performances with bat and ball respectively as West Indies defeated hosts Canada by seven wickets at Danville Park, Mississauga, Toronto on Tuesday.

Seonarine, a former Guyana first-class player, snared 4-14 from 8.3 off-spin overs to limit Canada to 107 all out off 44.3 overs.

When West Indies batted, Dhaniram, another ex-Guyana cricketer, hit a responsible, unbeaten 50 as West Indies safely reached 108-3 off 20.5 overs. It was the opening match of the Tri-Lateral 45-over series which also includes USA. These three countries are using this four-day tournament as part of their preparations for next year’s World Cup to be staged in South Africa sometime around November as well.

Dhaniram, who captained his adopted country Canada internationally, arrived at number 5 with his team struggling on 24-3 including the prized wicket of his elder brother Sudesh Dhaniram via the leg-before route for 4. But the confident left-handed and Shiv Seeram batted smartly picking up the singles to stage a great recovery. They associated in a productive, unbroken 84-run fourth-wicket stand. The fluent right-handed Seeram supported brilliantly by scoring 41. Seeram also represented Canada at international tournaments while he featured for Guyana at the regional youth level.

Earlier, Canada took first knock at the insertion of West Indies on a responsive pitch. Rohan Jayasekera hit a top-score of 34 to help stabilize things in the middle after Canada found themselves in a dangerous position at 34-3. Mukesh Narula looked compact too by scoring 26 but once they were separated things went downhill again. Seonarine bowled with good discipline while he was ably supported by left-arm spinner Sunil Dhaniram who captured two wickets for 10 runs from nine frugal overs to complement a sterling all-round display. Seamers Mohan Harihar and Kenny Gildharry also delivered well to take a wicket each.

On the same day USA whipped a CML Select X1 by 87 runs. The Select X1 is only participating to calculate the points. They cannot qualify regardless of the outcome at the preliminary stage. West Indies will clash with USA on Wednesday at the same venue where the actions continue. The winner will then advance straight to the final which is slated for Friday on the same surface as well. Thursday will have a semifinal showdown.

Notably, both West Indies and Canada took part in the previous World Cup event last year in South Africa. But at the half-way point, the series abandoned due to the Global Pandemic. West Indies picked up a win and suffered a defeat at that juncture.