CWC LEAGUE 2 TRILATERAL SERIES Canada go top of League 2 as Scotland's rain-curse returns
Saturday, 09 Mar 2024 05:00 am

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Canada won four out of four games.

A perfect run of four wins from four at their debut CWC League 2 trilateral series in Dubai took newly-promoted Canada to the top of the table in the ICC's premier Associate one-day competition. Meanwhile defending champions Scotland had to content themselves with a solitary win over hosts UAE, the latter yet to get on the board after the Scots' uncanny habit of taking rain with them to improbable places struck again, severe weather precluding any hope of play in their second ODI against the home side.

Having only reclaimed their ODI status and a place in the top-tier competition last year at the CWC Qualifier Playoff, Canada belied their status as bottom-seed in the competition and an indifferent recent run of form with four consecutive wins on their top-flight return.

Following a hard-fought win over the hosts in the series opener, Canada went on to roll the title-holders for 215 in the second match and seal a comfortable 3-wicket win thanks in large part to an unbeaten 87* from Pargat Singh. Debutant Charlie Tear delivered the Scots their sole win of the tour in the next game, striking an 54* in reply to deliver the Emiratis a second home defeat after brothers Brad and Scot Currie had made a mess of the hosts' innings with combined figures of 5-37. The elder Currie led the way with a personal return of 3-21, while Scott finished with 2-16 as the hosts collapsed to 137 all out.

Back-to-back unbeaten centuries from all-rounder Harsh Thaker in the next two games were instrumental in securing two further victories for Canada. His 111* helped the Canadians post a total of 241 in their second match against the Emiratis - the highest total set thus far in what has been a remarkably low-scoring competition - Dilon Heyliger starring with the ball as the hosts were held to 228-8 chasing 237 in the 46 overs that the arrival of the improbable rain allowed them. Thaker was the pick of the bowlers too in what would prove to be the final game of the series, taking 3-41 to see Scotland all out for 197 before racking up another 110* in the chase to finish the series with a personal tally of 234 runs, having been dismissed only once.

Now something of a running gag in Associate circles, Scotland's uncanny rainmaking curse finally struck for the final match. Having previously taken the weather with them to such improbable locales as Namibia and Oman, they also have form on that front in the Emirates, where Scotland have been involved in mostly every ODI wash-out ever witnessed in the desert nation. So it was again for the final match of the series, called off ahead of time in deference to the approaching storm.

The match has officially been postponed rather than abandoned however, meaning that it will likely be played at an opportune moment later in the League 2 cycle, similar to several matches in the previous edition that were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic or the death of Omani Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

The result leaves the Emiratis winless at the bottom of the table, albeit with a game in hand over Nepal, whom they trail by 2 points. Scotland likewise have a game in hand over Nepal, the Netherlands and Namibia - the three sides that contested the first trilateral series at Kathmandu last month. Scotland are level with Nepal on 2 points, with the Dutch two points ahead of them in third, Namibia in second place with three wins from four, while Canada claim pole position with a perfect 8 points from four matches.

While Scotland will stay on in the Emirates for a three-match bilateral T20 series against the hosts (weather permitting) League 2 will continue outside Dundee in May where Scotland will host Namibia and Oman, the latter making their entry into the second edition of the League. The United States will have to wait until after the T20 World Cup to play their first games in the competition, when they travel to the Netherlands in August together with Canada to contest the fourth of the 24 trilateral series that make up the League, which serves as part of the qualification ladder for the 2027 Men's Cricket World Cup.