Canada’s National Women’s Cricket Team
ended its participation at the October 18
–25 Mexico hosted Americas Qualifier
for the ICC 2022 T20 World Cup with a 3/3
record from its six matches played. The Canadians
registered victories double victories against last
placed Argentina as well as a historic second
round win against the eventual tournament
champions the USA. They, however, lost two very
close encounters against second-placed Brazil
in addition to their first-round defeat at the hads
of the USA.
The Canadian’s highly commendable tournament
performance was fashioned on the tournament
leading batting of Divya Saxena. Hala Azmat
(10), Hiba Shamshad (5), Sanyah Zia (6) and
Mukhwinder Gill were also outstanding with the
ball for the Canadians.
Saxena’s batting was the highlight of the tournament. The Calgary-based bespectacled right hand finished the tournament with a chart-topping aggregate of 180 runs from six innings batted. Her three undefeated innings including the 70 not out in Canada’s opening match against Argentina that was both the competition’s highest individual score and only recorded half-century resulted in Saxena having a tournament average of 60.00, Her strike rate of 86.12 was also highly impressive.
Saxena’s aggregate which was almost twice that of the 95 scored by the USA’s Gargi Bhogle as her nearest rival, earned her the tournament’s Best Batter Award. She also copped the even more prestigious Tournament MVP Award as a result of having also claimed two wickets with her bowling and taking three catches while fielding.
Besides Saxena, Miryam Khokhar was the only other Canadian batter to score over 50 runs from her combined tournament innings. Khokar ended with a tournament aggregate of 69 from 6 innings batted at an average of 11.50, which given her outstanding chart-topping batting at the Ontario-hosted Canadian National Women’s Championships that preceded the Mexico Qualifier, she herself will surely regard as highly disappointing.
There were no similar disappointments for Canada’s primary bowlers. Hala Azmat’s 10 wickets taken at an average of 6.20 and with an even more impressive 3.10 economy rate placed her second on the list of the tournament’s highest wicket-takers. She was only marginally surpassed by Brazil’s Laura Cardoso whose tournament highest 11 wickets included an incredible final over hat-trick against the Canadians.
Hiba Shamshad whose five wickets were captured at an average of 9.80 runs emerged as the Canadians’ most economical bowler with a strike rate of 2.88. Shamshad’s death bowling which typically saw her involvement in two of the last three overs for the respective Canadian opponent’s innings was simply outstanding. She amazingly kept her composure, did not concede any boundaries, very rarely bowled any wides, and often produced at least one wicket.
Saniyah Zia and Mukhwinder Gill, both with 5 wickets each were the Canadians two other outstanding bowlers. Zia’s 5 wickets were taken at an average (9.80) and strike rate (2.88) that were identical to those of Shamshad. Gill’s average for her 5 wickets was 8.00 and her strike rate 3.11.
The Summarized scores for Canada’s 6 matches are as follows:
MATCH 1:
OCTOBER 18 VS ARGENTINA
Canada 134/3 (20 Ovrs) Divya Saxena 70* (70); Achini Perera 28 (44)
Argentina 63/9 (20 Ovrs) Veronica Vasques 19 (47); Saniyah Zia 3/9 (4); Hiba Shamshad 1/8 (4).
CANADA WON BY 72 RUNS.
MATCH 2:
OCTOBER 19 VS USA
Canada 70/9 (20 Ovrs) Miryam Khokhar 23 (30); Divya Saxena 22 (38); Suhani Thadani 2/7 (4)
USA 71/0 (10.5 Ovrs) Gargi Bhogle 39 (27);
USA WON BY 10 WICKETS.
Page: 6 wickets
MATCH 3:
OCTOBER 21 VS BRAZIL
Canada 47/10 (19.5 Ovrs) Sonali Vig
13 (33); Mahrukh Imtiaz 13 (39); Nicole
Monteiro 4/6 (4); Laura Cardoso 3/13 (3.5)
Brazil 49/5 (18.1 Ovrs) Roberta Avery 17
(44); Hala Azmat 2/8 (4)
BRAZIL WON BY 5 WICKETS.
MATCH 4:
OCTOBER 22 VS ARGENTINA
Argentina 59/9 (20 Ovrs) Alison Stocks 18
(1); Mukhwinder Gill 2/6 (4)
Canada 60/1 (10.4 Ovrs) Divya Saxena
39* (39)
CANADA WON BY 9 WICKETS.
MATCH 5:
OCTOBER 24 VS USA
Canada 85/4 (20 Ovrs) Divya Saxena 40 (45);
Miryam Khokhar 27 (50); Akshatha Rao 2/22 (4)
USA 78/7 (20 Ovrs) Isani Vaghela 20 (32); Hala
Azmat 4/15 (4)
CANADA WON BY 7 RUNS
MATCH 6:
OCTOBER 25 VS BRAZIL
Brazil 48/7 (17 Ovrs) Roberta Avery 21 (32); Hiba
Shamshad 3/8 (4); Hala Azmat 2/11 (4)
Canada 47/10 (17 Ovrs) Mukwhinder Gill 19 (29);
Laura Cardoso 3/8 (3); Renata de Sousa 2/3 (4)
BRAZIL WON BY 1 RUN!