Two aim for spots on national cricket squad
Two players from the Mississauga Ramblers have been named to the preliminary 30-man roster to represent Canada in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
All-rounders Sandeep Jyoti and Junaid Siddiqui are in the Caribbean as Canada takes the field in this year’s edition of the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship, which bowls off Monday in Antigua.
Cricket Canada will use the tourney to choose 15 players to take to the World Cup, taking place Feb. 19 to April 2 in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The premier international championship of one-day international (ODI) cricket, the event is organized by the sport’s governing body, the International Cricket Council, with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament held every four years.
Jyoti, a right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler, was born in India, but came to Canada when he was 14. He began playing cricket in 1989 when he joined the Ramblers. He made his debut for the national side in 2002 when he participated in the Red Stripe Bowl in Jamaica.
Now 37, he led Canada to a second-place finish in the final qualifying tournament for the World Cup held in South Africa in April 2009.
Ramblers’ president Roy Supaul says Jyoti, the Mississauga Sports Council’s top male amateur athlete for 2009, has a good shot of making the cut.
“His stats speak for themselves,” he said. “Over the years he has represented our club – both as a player and as a coach – and his country very well.”
Like Jyoti, Siddiqui also honed his cricket skills in the Ramblers organization. Now in his mid-20s, he was a mainstay on Ontario’s junior and senior squads. In club cricket last season, he had an average of 29 with the bat.
Though Siddiqui’s a newcomer on the national scene, Supaul says he’s definitely one to watch.
“He’s a young up-and-comer...and has performed well at all levels,” he noted.
Despite finishing 15th out of 16 teams at the 2007 tournament, when it went 0-3 and failed to advance out of its pool, Cricket Canada has high hopes for cricket in this country.
“We are confident that we have found the right mix of youth and experience to represent Canada at the World Cup and build a solid foundation for the future of Canadian cricket. We...anticipate a significant improvement from our last appearance,” said Chris James, chair of the selection committee, when the preliminary squad was announced just before Christmas.
Canada will be led by veterans, among them Jyoti, captain Ashish Bagai and his predecessor, John Davison.
The finals of the Cricket World Cup are contested by all 10 Test-playing and ODI-playing nations, together with four other countries that qualified through the World Cup Qualifier.
This year, Canada is grouped with Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe – all Test-playing nations – plus associate member Kenya. Group B comprises Test-playing nations Bangladesh, England, India, South Africa and the West Indies together with associate members Ireland and the Netherlands. The top four from each group qualify for the quarter-finals.
Canada will be in tough in its first match Feb. 20 when it hooks up with Sri Lanka. That’s because the host country will be out for blood after losing to the Aussies in the 2007 final.
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