Canada have started their qualifying campaign for the 2027 Men's ODI World Cup with a win over the UAE today in Dubai as the second tri-series of CWC League 2 got underway.
Canadian captain Saad Bin Zafar won the toss and asked his opposition to bat first, with Muhammad Waseem providing the runs at the top of the order with 48 before Harsh Thaker caught him off his own bowling.
Runs in the middle over from Aayan Afzal Khan (38) and Zuhaib Zubair (31) helped give a little more respectability to the UAE total of 194, the last wicket falling in the 48th over. Kaleem Sana was the pick of the Canadian bowlers with 4-42.
Canada lost Aaron Johnson and Pargat Singh for single digit scores early on in their reply, with Navneet Dhaliwal also dismissed cheaply in the 14th over. Srimantha Wijeyeratne provided the runs early on with 59, sharing in a 64 run partnership for the fourth wicket with Nicholas Kirton before being caught behind.
Kirton stayed in and eventually hit the winning runs to secure a three wicket win with 14 balls to spare, finishing the innings unbeaten on 68.
The tri-series continues on Friday when Canada take on defending champions Scotland in the first match between the two sides in almost nine years. The hosts will next be in action on Sunday when they play Scotland.