Former Canada Captain Sunil Dhaniram Surprised At Gus Logie’s Axing

Canada News
By Ravendra Madholall in Toronto
Former Canadian captain Sunil Dhaniram has expressed strong surprise at Coach Gus Logie’s axing from the side in the aftermath of the country’s early elimination at the recently held International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup Qualifiers in Dubai.

Former Canada captain Sunil Dhaniram.

The versatile all-rounder, who also represented Guyana at the senior level, stated that the move by Canada Cricket Association is ‘ridiculous’ and it’s also demonstrated that they have shown no confidence in Logie, whose contract was terminated on Monday.

“I [am] totally surprised by the CCA for taking off Logie from the coaching position; it really shows the politics in Canada’s cricket and he should not have been blamed for the team’s elimination; I think the players were responsible for Canada’s place at next year’s World Cup T20,” Dhaniram related.

Canada was hunting for a spot at the global event which is slated to be held in Bangladesh from mid-April to March 2014 but the North American boys only secured two victories from their allotted seven games.

“I think he was a great coach and everyone who played under him can say that; we have to have better structure in Canada to see the players be better prepared for these kind of tours; Logie brought a wealth of experience to Canada and should have given a longer stint,” the Berbician mentioned.

Logie, who still has the distinction of leading the West Indies team to the ICC 2004 Champion Trophy in England in the same capacity as coach, was appointed for Canada’s second World Cup appearance in South Africa 2003 before he switched across to Bermuda and Jamaica for various coaching stints too.

Dhaniram, the 45-year-old cricketer, who represented Canada for the final time in 2010, emphasized the importance of having a man of his caliber for the development of Canada’s cricket and the Trinidadian and former West Indies batsman was the right person to be a coach on a long-term basis.

“You have got to look at things in the future and I think about the future and having someone like Coach Logie could have be very helpful in all aspects of the game; he is energetic and always willing to work with the players, so I really surprise by them to remove him suddenly, Dhaniram expressed on Wednesday from his home in Ajax.

Canada started off their campaign inauspiciously losing to their neighbors United States of America while they suffered defeats to the lowly-rated Hong Kong among others. Their wins were against Uganda and Italy while they ended the competition with the 12th place position after losing to Kenya in a place playoff schedule.

Dhaniram also stated with the new Coach Andy Pick who is reportedly set to take over the coaching position on an interim basis for the 2015 ICC 50-over World Cup Qualifiers from next month in New Zealand, is also very serious about his job.

“Andy is a good coach too and he always believes in fitness and get player prepared for major series; I can recall some members of our team when I was playing showed unwillingness to train but Pick wants his players to be ready and I respect him for that along with Logie,” Dhaniram, the younger brother of former Guyana and West Indies ‘B’ team opener Sudesh Dhaniram, explained.
Meanwhile, Dhaniram, who played first-division cricket for Albion in Berbice, candidly divulged that he would not participate in anything when it comes to cricket Canada and will remain an active player in the Ontario Softball Cricket League over-40 Masters tournament representing GT.

He migrated to Canada since 1995/96 after featuring in 12 first-class matches for his native country while he capped in 32 one-day international for Canada since making his debut 2005.