Canada warm up for T20 with morale boosting win over Nepal

Canada celebrate a wicketPhoto: ICC

The Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas will host the opening match of the T20 World Cup on June 1 when hosts USA face northern neighbours Canada.

Canada will be used to the venue however after facing Nepal in a preparation match on Monday and securing a comprehensive 63-run victory.

Nepal won the toss but soon regretted putting Canada in to bat as the Maple Leaves put up a score of 183-7 in their 20 overs.

Left-hander Nicholas Kirton shored up the innings after coming in at one wicket down rather than two after number three Rayyan Pathan retired hurt. He felt a hamstring twinge after just one ball and decided not to risk further damage with the tournament opener just days away. In reality though, it was 22-2 as Pathan would play no further part in the game.

With two 6s and four 4s, Kirton scored 51 off 39 deliveries, leaving with Canada on 120-5 with 28 balls left to increase the score. Ravinderpal Singh took it up from there with 41 off just 17 balls.

Abinash Bora with 2-27 was Nepal’s best bowler.

Chasing 184, Nepal reached their high point at 57-1 before the last nine wickets collapsed for just 63. Kushal Malla made 37 off 30 balls, Nepal’s highest run rate and individual innings.

Dillon Heylinger took 4-20 in just 15 deliveries, a wicket in every 3.75 balls.

Canada also have an injury worry over Pargat Singh who fell badly on his left ankle while trying to take a catch off Karan. Ravinderpal Singh suffered cramp but seemed to have recovered but Canada’s physio will have his work to do before Saturday when they face the USA.

Both sides have one more chance to acclimate to the ground before the big opener. Canada face the Netherlands on 31 May in their last warm-up match, while the Americans face USA the day before.

Canada Squad:

Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Ravinderpal Singh, Navneet Dhaliwal, Kaleem Sana, Dilon Heyliger, Jeremy Gordon, Nikhil Dutta, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Rayyankhan Pathan, Junaid Siddiqui, Dilpreet Bajwa, Shreyas Movva, Rishiv Joshi.

Reserves: Tajinder Singh, Aaditya Varadharajan, Ammar Khalid, Jatinder Matharu, Parveen Kumar

Team USA squad features familiar names

Canada v Nepal Scorecard

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