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Canada
U19’s win World Cup Opener with Zimbabwe
Young team makes
Canadian cricket history at ICC U19 Cricket World
Cup
Christchurch....Canada
made cricket history Friday, defeating Zimbabwe by
10 runs at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup for its
first ever win at a World Cup at any level.
As one of the 10 full members of
the Internaional Cricket Council, Zimbabwe was
favoured to win on the opening day of the 16-country
tournament. Zimbabwe is seeded 10th at the
tournament to No. 14 for Canada.
Canada’s
Under-19 cricketers, bolstered Usman Limbada’s knock
of 90, beat Zimbabwe by 10 runs on the opening day
of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in
Christchurch, New Zealand. Limbada’s 90 runs came
from 114 balls (including 6 fours and a six) and
helped the side reach 201 for 7 wickets in 50 overs.
Canada took three early wickets before Zimbabwean
wicketkeeper Dean Mazhawidza lead a recovery, making
75 runs. Mazhawidza and Andrew Lindsay (40 runs)
shared a fourth wicket stand of 110 runs in 34 overs.
Both batsmen were eventually dismissed by spin
bowling and in a tight finish, Canada’s bowlers and
fielders held firm, the most successful being Zain
Mahommood with 3 wickets for 31 runs.
The Canadian
innings began well as openers Ruvindu Gunasekera
(29) and Hiral Patel (20) made 50 runs in ten overs
before the first wicket fell. Limbada then provided
a vital backbone for what proved a defendable total.
Darius D’Souza, batting lower in the order, chipped
in with 20 runs.
"This victory means a lot," captain
Rustam Bhatti was quoted on the official tournament
website. "This is the start of hopefully a great
future for Canadian cricket."
The win is a
major boost to the young Canadians who face hosts
New Zealand on Saturday in another Group C match.
Canada’s qualifying group matches conclude on
January 18 against Sri Lanka. The top two sides from
each of four qualifying groups progress to the
quarter-finals.
Canada is an
Associate Member of the ICC and reached this
competition via an ICC Americas Regional and then
the ICC Global U-19 Global Qualifier, held last
September in the Greater Toronto Area. Ireland,
Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, the USA and Hong Kong
also reached this U-19 CWC via the Global Qualifier.
The ten ICC Full Member countries automatically
qualify. Canada, which moves
atop Group C, plays No. 3 New Zealand on Saturday.
Updated : Jan
15,2010
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