ICC World Cup 2011: Canada announce final 16-man squad
Cricket Canada announced their 16-member final squad for February’s ICC World Cup 2011 on Thursday.
The selectors picked up a relatively young squad for the coveted event that will be jointly hosted by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747.
The surprise of the bunch was the Jamaican-born batsman Tyson Gordon who has been picked up by the selectors despite not having a Canadian citizenship. Therefore, the selectors made an announcement of a 16-man squad instead of the 15-man limit. However,
Cricket Canada hopes that Gordon will be cleared soon.
The 28-year-old will be making his international debut if he is granted the Canadian nationality. The selectors have named Hamza Tariq as a standby if Gordon fails to get his issue resolved. Tariq, 20-year old, hails from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and is one of the most
promising batsmen of Canada.
The 28-year-old Ashish Bagai, who is of Indian descent, has been named as the captain of the Canadian squad. Bagai is amongst the three players who are returning from the 2007 World Cup squad.
The handy wicketkeeper is efficient with the gloves due to his nimble footwork. However, over the years he has emerged as one of the best batsman for Canada.
He has played 52 One Day Internationals and is the most experienced player for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748. He has 1,736 runs under his belt with a strike rate of 65.33. He also holds the Canadian record of the highest ODI score when he smashed an unbeaten 137 and recorded the
first-ever century for Canada in an ODI.
His calm approach at the crease and his ability to penetrate gaps has made him a very effective player in limited overs form of the game. His career highlight to date has been the innings against UAE in the 2001 ICC Trophy when he drove his team to a win
despite spending the last night in the hospital.
The right-handed batsman was a banker by profession but gave up his career after accepting a full-time contract with the Board in 2009. Since then, he has been leading the side in global circuits and continued with his fantastic form in 2010, as he posted
six half-centuries from eleven matches.
The Pakistani-born right-handed batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rizwan-Cheema-c2328 will be acting as his deputy. Cheema has proved to be quite handy due to his medium pace bowling. He made his international debut in 2008, narrowly missing out on a maiden ODI century. He has played
21 international matches, raking in 523 runs and claiming 19 wickets.
The squad features seven players who have graduated through the country’s young ranks. The 16-man squad comprises of players who belong to the sub-continent and it will be easier for them to adapt to the spin-friendly conditions of the three host nations.
However, the Pakistani-based Canadian players are having some problems regarding their Indian visas. The delay in the visa process has affected their World Cup preparations as the 16-man squad are due to leave for Dubai for a training camp organised by the
International Cricket Council on 26 January, 2011.
Canada World Cup Squad: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ruvindu-Gunasekera-c87250, Karl Whatham, Jimmy Hansra,
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khurram-Chohan-c1791, Balaji Rao, Zubin Surkari, Hamza Tariq (stand-by).
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