Canada travels to Guyana next week for the 50-overs per side West Indies Regional Tournament in Guyana that runs from November 13th to 23rd. Sunil Dhaniram will captain Canada in the country of his birth with Umar Bhatti as vice-captain. The squad includes leg-spinner Zahid Hussain and Khurram Chohan but is missing Rizwan Cheema, the team’s recent batting hero, due to lack of travel documents.
Canada opens with a game against the Leeward Islands on Thursday Nov. 13, then meets Trinidad on Nov 15, Jamaica on Nov 17 and hosts Guyana on Wednesday Nov 19. The event has nine teams. The top four meet in semi-finals on Nov 21 and 22. The final at Providence Stadium on Sunday Nov 23.
Barbados , the Windward Islands, the Combined Campuses and Colleges, and the USA are the other four sides in the West Indies tournament. Sudesh Dhaniram, who has named in the US squad, is the elder brother of Canadian captain Sunil Dhaniram.
Canada then moves to Fort Lauderdale in south Florida to participate in the Pepsi ICC Development Program Americas Regional Division 1 tournament from November 25 to 30th. There are some changes in the squad for this event. Umar Bhatti is set to captain the senior side for the first time in this competition. In in the past he lead Canada at the Under-19 level.
The Americas Regional Division 1 is decided on the round-robin standings. Canada is due to play Argentina (Tues Nov 25), Cayman Islands (Nov 26), Suriname (Nov 27), USA (Nov 29) and Bermuda (Nov 30). Bermuda won the event in 2006 due to Canada beating the USA on the last day. It had been a disappointing tournament until that win for Canada .
Canada squad for West Indies Regional Tournament: Sunil Dhaniram (Captain), Umar Bhatti (Vice-captain), Abdool Samad, Mohammad Iqbal, Sandeep Jyoti, Qaiser Ali, Khurram Chohan, Asif Mulla, Karun Jethi, Zahid Hussain, Harvir Baidwan, Henry Osinde, Eion Katchay and Zubin Surkari.
Canada squad for the Pepsi ICC Americas Regional Division 1 event: Umar Bhatti - Captain, Karun Jethi - Vice Captain, Qaiser Ali, Harvir Baidwan, Khurram Chohan, Sunil Dhaniram, Zahid Hussain, Mohammad Iqbal, Sandeep Jyoti, Eion Katchay, Asif Mulla, Henry Osinde, Jason Sandher and Zubin Surkari.
