Canada turns back English champs

NORTH SOUND—English T20 champions Hampshire were stunned last night in their opening match of the Caribbean T20 tournament when they were beaten by Canada by 23 runs at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua. Canada won the toss and made 129 for seven off 20 overs with Rizwan Cheema (31). Cheema faced 21 balls and hit one four and two brutal sixes. He got support from the Sri Lankan bred Ruvindu Gunasekera who made 29 from 26 balls inclusive of four boundaries and a six. Simon Jones, the former England paceman took 2 for 20 from his allotment of four overs while there was a wicket apiece for Johannes Myburgh and Hamza Riazuddin

The total looked inadequate but some fine bowling from man-of-the-match Pavri Desai, the former India left-arm spinner, who took 2-15 from his four overs, undermined the Hampshire run chase. Desai go great support from medium pacer A Hansra whose early spell stifled the Hampshire batsmen who found runs hard to come. Hansra bowled four economical overs to finish with 1-14.  Benjamin Howell who was unbeaten on 22 and Myburgh, who also made 22, topscored for Hampshire. Later Barbados were playing the Leeward Islands in the second game. Today, Somerset will play Guyana and Jamaica will take on the Combined Campuses and Colleges. T&T will open their campaign against the Leewards tomorrow.

SCOREBOARD

Canada vs Hampshire
CANADA (maximum 20 overs)
H. Patel run out (Myburgh)    7
R. Gunasekera b Riazuddin    29
A. Bagai c and b Myburgh    8
T. Gordon c Adams b Jones    18
Rizwan Cheema c Howell b Jones    31
Z. Surkari run out (Howell)    10
A. Hansra not out    3
H. Baidwan run out (Howell/+Bates)    2
Balaji Rao not out    2
Extras: (lb9, w10)    19
TOTAL: (7 wkts, 20 overs)    129
Khurram Chohan, P. Desai did not bat
Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-46, 3-66, 4-97, 5-120, 6-124, 7-127
Bowling: Wood 4-0-35-0, Jones 4-0-20-2, Briggs 3-0-26-0, Riazuddin 4-0-11-1, Myburgh 3-0-13-1, Howell 2-0-15-0

HAMPSHIRE (target: 130 off 20 overs)
J. Adams b Hansra    12
J. Myburgh b Desai     22
J. Vince run out (Gunasekera)    8
L. Dawson c and b Baidwan    18
S. Ervine (Surkari/+Bagai)    5
B. Howell not out     22
C. Wood b Desai    1
H. Riazuddin c Gunasekera b Cheema    5
M. Bates c Baidwan b Cheema    10
S. Jones not out    1
Extras: (lb2)    2
TOTAL: (8 wkts, 20 overs)    109
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-39, 3-52, 4-65, 5-67, 6-70, 7-93, 8-104
Bowling: Khurram Chohan 3-0-17-0, Hansra 4-0-14-1, Rizwan Cheema 4-0-27-2, Desai 4-0-15-2, Baidwan 4-0-21-1,
Patel 1-0-10-0
Result: Canada won by 23 runs
Points: Canada 2, Hampshire 0
Toss: Canada
Man-of-the-Match: P. Desai (Canada)
Umpires: P. Nero, J. Wilson
TV umpire: N. Malcolm
Match referee: V. Burnes