Cricket Minnows Attempt To Underline Status

Both Canada and Kenya will enter into this game with everything to prove.

The argument of whether Associate nations should be allowed to compete in the ICC World Cup has not been helped by the form of these two cricketing minnows.

While Kenya have been bundled out for scores of 69, 112 and 142- amassing just 323 runs in their three outings- Canada have fared little better. A squad with only two Canadian born players has managed to lose all of their games so far.

Despite having misfired in several areas in their previous games, both sides know they are expected to win here.

Having given Pakistan something of a hard time, Canada will fancy their chances against the African contingent.

Kenya looked to be on their way to provide something of a game against Sri Lanka, but was blown away by the wrath of Lasith Malinga.

There was drama earlier in the week from the men down south when Jimmy Kamande, Kenya's captain, was called in to report on supposed rifts between players and coach Eldine Baptiste.

While both sides may have different views on the outcome of their contest, they are unanimous why they have let down themselves this time around.

“When we made it to the semis in 2003, we had played quite a lot against the top sides before coming into the World Cup. That experience gave us a lot of exposure and confidence, which showed in our performance. Nowadays, however, we don’t get to play the top sides outside the World Cup,” said former Kenya skipper Maurice Ouma.

Canada: (probable) 1 John Davison, 2 Nitish Kumar/Ruvindu Gunasekera, 3 Ashish Bagai (wk/capt), 4 Zubin Surkari, 5 Rizwan Cheema, 6 Jimmy Hansra, 7 Tyson Gordon, 8 Khurram Chohan, 9 Harvir Baidwan, 10 Balaji Rao, 11 Parth Desai.

Kenya: (probable) 1 Maurice Ouma (wk), 2 Seren Waters, 3 Collins Obuya, 4 Steve Tikolo, 5 David Obuya, 6 Tanmay Mishra/Rakep Patel, 7 Thomas Odoyo, 8 Jimmy Kamande (capt), 9 Nehemiah Odhiambo, 10 Shem Ngoche, 11 Elijah Otieno.

For the African team look to Collins Obuya to work his magic with the bat. Obuya registered a half century against hosts Sri Lanka and has been Kenya's most prolific batsman of late. If he is to link with Steve Tikolo out in the middle, things might turn for this talented, yet underperforming side.

For Canada John Davison will be looking to bow out of his last World Cup with a bang. The talented opener was left out of Canada’s last match against Zimbabwe, and will realise that this might be his last chance at a win playing for Canada. He will look to register a high score here.

The pitch has one again been called a spinners turf, something Imran Tahir and Pieter Seelaar certainly showed. Look to both teams to work their spinning ability, with Canada harbouring the more potent attack in this regard.

This match up will be the last chance for any of these teams to register a win, and possibly the last chance to claim a victory in the World Cup if the ICC has anything to say about it. Both will give it their all here.

"This is our best chance of a win in the World Cup. If we get our batting right we should be competitive," said Ashish Bagai earlier in the week.

Interesting Statistic: The sides have played against each other in 12 ODIs, Kenya winning seven of them.