Canada progressed into the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 to be played in the West Indies and the United States of America. They achieved this feat by defeating Bermuda at Bermuda National Stadium, Hamilton on 7th October 2023.
The match was reduced to 18 overs a side due to a storm on Saturday morning. Canada captain Saad Bin Zafar won the toss and elected to bat first. Navneet Dhaliwal looked in good shape with some lovely shots putting pressure on Bermuda bowlers. Nicolas Kirton unbeaten 26 off 15 deliveries including 2 fours and 2 sixes, Dillion Heyliger’s quickfire cameo helped Canada post 132 for 4 in 20 overs. For Bermuda, Dominic Sabir picked 2 wickets for 34 in his 4 overs.
In reply, Bermuda lost an early wicket of Tre Manders. Kamau Leverock and Terryn Fray steadied the ship putting on 50 runs for the 2nd wicket. Nikhil Dutta grabbed Leverock’s wicket to derail Bermuda’s innings. Canada kept on picking wickets at regular intervals to bowl out Bermuda for 93 in 16.5 overs. It was a superb bowling effort by Canada as Kaleem Sana took 3 for 4, Jeremy Gordon 3 for 6, Nikhil Dutt 2 for 16, and Harsh Thaker and Saad Bin Zafar took 1 wicket each. For his spell of 3 for 4, Kaleem Sana was named the player of the match.
The tournament involved 4 teams including Canada, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and Panama. Each team would play the other twice. Canada played a total of 6 matches including 4 wins, 1 loss, and 1 no-result.
Canada’s performance in the tournament and their World Cup since 2011
Canada started the tournament with a big loss against Bermuda on 30th September. They suffered 86 runs loss to Bermuda in their first match that dented their net run rate. They returned with a resounding win over the Cayman Islands by 108 runs. Canada then showed their domination as they registered a 163-run win over Panama on 3rd October 2023.
Canada registered 166 runs victory against the Cayman Islands. Their next fixture against Panama resulted in no result. This will be the first time that Canada has qualified for the T20 World Cup. Canada also made it into their first ICC tournament since 2011. They played in the 2011 World Cup in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
The T20 World Cup 2024 to be played in the West Indies and the USA. USA and West Indies qualify to be the hosts. India, Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands progressed into the tournament as they finished in the top 8 during the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 played in Australia.
Bangladesh and Afghanistan progressed as they are the next 2 best teams in the ICC T20I rankings. Ireland and Scotland made it into the prestigious event after reaching the finals of Europe qualifiers played from 20th-28th July.
Papua New Guinea became the next team to qualify for the Mega event winning the tournament during the East Asia Pacific tournament played from 22nd to 29th July 2023. This win by Canada ended the spot for the American region in the tournament. 2 spots in the Asia qualifier and 2 spot in the Africa region is to be filled for the T20 World Cup 2024.
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