An Encouraging Brazil Tour!

It was a busy month for the women as
they trained for and competed in Brazil
at their first-ever appearance at the
South American Championships. Under
the experience and guidance of Head
Coach Pubudu Dassanayake and newly
appointed Women’s Coach Rizwan
Cheema, the Canadian Women’s Squad
were put through their paces, making
sure they were ready to perform at their
best.

While Cricket Canada took their time in
selecting a squad, they chose to refrain
from calling it the Senior Canadian
Women’s Team, instead choosing to call
it a Canadian Women’s Development
Squad.

Squad: Divya Saxena (Captain), Achini
Perera, Amarpal Kaur, Danielle McGahey,
Hala Azmat, Hiba Shamshad, Kainat Qazi,
Krima Kapadia, Mannat Hundal, Rabjyot
Rajput, Rey Blais, Rhea Misra, Sana Zafar,
Saniyah Zia.

Unfortunately due to the late selection
call, Rabjyot Rajput and Amarpal Kaur
we unable to attend having run into visa
issues and Saniyah Zia running into work
schedule issues.

The South American Championships took place from October 13th to 16th.
The Canadian Development squad competed against Brazil, Argentina and
Peru. Unlike originally anticipated these games were not ICC sanctioned
therefore the games were not official T20Is and did not go towards the ICC
rankings. Regardless, it was a very successful campaign for the Canadian
Women as they came out on top beating favourites Brazil. Brazil is the only
country to have fully contracted their women’s players well before their
men’s players. This allows the team to train 6 days a week as well as travel
and compete all year long. This investment showed well for Brazil as they
significantly improvement in all aspects of the game.

Canada played a total of 2 warm up and 4 series games. The warm-up
games were both against Brazil each side winning a game.
For this month’s issue, we take a trip to Brazil!
Page No – 19

Canada’s first game of the series was against
Argentina with Canada winning the toss and
electing to bat. They put up 181 in their 20
overs with Skipper Divya Saxena top scoring
with 82 off 46. Saxena stamped her authority
in the game with 3 impressive boundaries and
5 masterclass sixes. In reply, Argentina were
69 all out. Hiba Shamshad was the pick of the
bowlers with figures of 10 for 3 in her 4 overs
and Saxena with figures of 11 for 2 off her 4
overs. Saxena was the player of the match.

Canada’s second game was against Brazil with
Canada winning the toss again and electing
to bat. They put up a formidable 177 for 3.
Danielle McGahey top scoring with 73 off 46
and Saxena scoring 48 off 33. In return, Brazil
finished their chase at 132 for 5. Krima Kapadia
was the pick of the bowlers for Canada with
figures of 18-1 in her over spell of 4 overs.

Canada’s third game was against Peru. Peru
won the toss and elected to bat first and only
managed 34 runs before they were bowled out
in 19.2 overs. Canada had a strong bowling
attack with Kapadia, Misra, Hundal and Perera
all chipping in with wickets. In reply, Canada chased the total
down in 3.3 overs with the openers Zafar and Blais finishing
with 18 off 11 and 15 off 13 respectively.

Having won the first 3 games, Canada secured a spot in the
final where they faced Brazil again. Brazil won the toss and
elected to bowl. They bowled Canada out for 125 in 19.1
overs, making it the first time Canada lost all their wickets
this series. Saxena top scored with 42 off 36 and Perara
added 34 off 32. In reply, Brazil was bowled out for 89 in
17 overs. Saxena was the pick of the bowlers with figures of
15 for 4 off her 4 overs. Saxena picked up her second player
of the match.

For a young squad, the Canadians showed great class and
competitiveness. The top awards were taken by Achini
Perera for Best Fielder of the tournament and Divya Saxena
for MVP. For skipper Saxena and coach Cheema, this is their
first-ever series win as captain and coach.

The Canadian Women will not head into their off-season
training as they prepare for the America’s Championships
next year for a chance to continue on to the global qualifiers.
As for the program, the current squad shows good promise
and if they continue to improve, they should give the US a
good run for their money next year.

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