Cricket Canada Press Release
Canada gutted out a thrilling victory over Ireland on Monday before a large and boisterous crowd at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club. Ireland, the leading Associate cricket nation and 10th ranked in the world, are visiting Canada for an Intercontinental Cup (4-Day Match) and 2 match One Day International Series.
Winning the toss and batting first in the 35 overs aside rain shortened match, Ireland put up a fighting total of 175-9 from 35 overs. Paul Stirling (35) and Andre Botha (20) got Ireland off to a steady start dealing in boundaries but the Canadian bowlers never quite let the Irish batsmen get away.
5 bowlers shared in the wickets with Khurram Chohan leading the way (3-25). Parth Desai continued his strong bowling for Canada picking up 2-25 as Canada's spinners choked off the Irish batsmen in the middle overs with only John Mooney (47) making real inroads. Zubin Surkari brought the home crowd to their feet with a spectacular diving grab to remove Irish captain Trent Johnston and effectively take the wind out of Ireland's sails.
With rain expected to return Canada's batsmen had to take the initiative and despite the early losses of Rizwan Cheema (0) and Hiral Patel (10) they persevered.
A gritty 140 run stand from Ruvindu Gunasekera (71) and skipper Ashish Bagai (64) steadied the ship then wrestled away the advantage from the Irish paving the way for victory. Gunasekara, playing his first one day international in two years looked confident early on first accumulating runs then playing some powerful drives when needed to push the tempo. He was a perfect partner for the captain Bagai who kept his composure and may sure the asking rate never got out of control. Though both men fell close to the end the large appreciative crowd saluted them for their efforts in bringing Canada it's third straight ODI win. The two carried Canada to from 15-2 to 155 setting the stage for a 4 run Duckworth Lewis victory as bad light stopped play in the 34th over.
The win by Canada knocked off an Irish group that has not lost to another associate member in ODI play for two years. For his efforts the youngster Gunasekera was named man of the match.
Earlier in the day kids from 3 local cricket academies participated in a Cricket Canada KIDS demonstration at the ground. The kids got to mingle with player from both teams, got autographs and participated in drills run by Rizwan Cheema and Ashish Bagai.
Cricket Canada vice president emphasized the good day that was for Canadian cricket saying .
"It was fantastic to see such a large ground come out, despite the weather for this match on holiday Monday, and stay right to the end. Playing in front of a home crowd brought out the best in the team and the fans were rewarded with a victory. Today we saw the real love and passion that Canadians have for the game starting from the young kids participating in the morning to the big crowd that braved the elements to cheer the team to victory.
Canada and Ireland renew hostilities in the second of two matches on Tuesday again at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club.
