ABOUT THE MATCH
Canada can take charge of Group B of the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier if they beat Hong Kong at the Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi. The match takes place on October 24.
Canada goes into the game on the back of three consecutive wins, seeing off Jersey, Nigeria, and Ireland so far. Nitish Kumar has scored a half-century in each of those three victories, claiming the man of the match award in every game so far.
They now face a Hong Kong team who lost their first three matches but beat Jersey last time out to keep their hopes of a play-off place alive albeit still very slim. They need to beat Canada to keep those hopes alive, however.
TOSS PREDICTION
Canada has won the toss in their last two games and happily elected to bat first. If they win the toss again, it seems unlikely they will sway from that tactic.
PITCH AND CONDITIONS
The conditions in Abu Dhabi, after some overnight haze, will be clear, sunny and perfectly dry in the afternoon.
Matches at the Tolerance Oval have seen plenty of wickets fall so far, though that is as much to do with the quality of the batting than the pitch. It is as balanced a wicket as the others in this tournament.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF Hong Kong
Nizakat Khan, Ahsan Abbasi, Aarush Bhagwat, Kinchit Shah, Aizaz Khan (c), Simandeep Singh, Waqas Barkat, Scott McKechnie (wk), Haroon Arshad, Ehsan Khan, Kyle Christie
PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF Canada
Rizwan Cheema, Navneet Dhaliwal (c), Nitish Kumar, Nicholas Kirton, Ravinderpal Singh, Hamza Tariq (wk), Dillon Heyliger, Romesh Eranga, Saad bin Zafar, Nikhil Dutta, Jeremy Gordon
MATCH PREVIEW
Hong Kong
- Aarush Bhagwat replaced Raag Kapur last time out as Hong Kong adjusted the balance of their team.
- The extra batsman did not make an impact he scored one from five balls but the victory against Jersey may mean they stick with that line-up.
- Hong Kong lost their first three matches.
- First up, they failed to defend 153/5 as they lost by eight wickets against Ireland, before being bowled out for 102 by Oman and posting just 116/7 against the UAE on their way to heavy defeats.
- They bounced back against Jersey, however. Nizakat Khan top-scored with 48 from 30 balls in a total of 144/7.
- In reply, Ehsan Khan took 2-18 from four overs as they restricted Jersey to 136/6.
Canada
- Canada made changes to their line-up for the first time to face Ireland. Romesh Eranga bowled well and took two wickets, but Rizwan Cheema had minimal impact at the top of the order.
- Rodrigo Thomas will be pushing for a recall in place of the latter.
- Canada has now won three matches from three so far this season, with Nitish Kumar leading them to victory in all three games.
- That does play down the contributions of others Dillon Heyliger taking three wickets in each of the first two games, and Jeremy Gordon doing likewise in the first match.
- Navneet Dhaliwal hammered 69 against Ireland, but it was Kumar’s third consecutive half-century that earned the man of the match award last time out.
PROBABLE WINNING TEAM:
Canada has been outstanding so far, with three wins from three, and it is hard to see Hong Kong stopping them.
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