Canada cruises to comfortable win over Bermuda at ICC Men's T20 World Cup qualifier
KING CITY - Opener Yuvraj Samra scored 65 runs to help Canada defeat Bermuda by 110 runs in its opening match Sunday at the Americas Qualifier for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026.
The Canadian men face the Bahamas, Bermuda and Cayman Islands in an eight-day double round-robin format that will see the group winner advance to next year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
Canada made its T20 World Cup debut last year, failing to advance out of the group stage after beating Ireland and losing to Pakistan and the co-host U.S. A game against India was abandoned due to inclement weather.
'I would feel like half of the job is done,' Canada captain Nicolas Kirton said prior to Sunday's match. 'We went to our first T20 World Cup last year and played some good cricket and got a win against Ireland. The goal for this team is to improve on that.'
Bermuda won the toss at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground and elected to bowl Sunday.
The Canadians finished at 205 for five in their allotted overs. In response, Bermuda was all out for 95 in 19.1 overs.
Opener Aaron Johnson was caught on five runs with Canada at 26 for one. But Samra and Pargat Singh steadied the ship with a 61-run partnership before Singh was caught on 28 runs. Samra hit five fours and four sixes in his 35-ball knock before he was caught with Canada at 117 for four.
No. 5 batsman Harsh Thaker finished at 49 not out.
Derrick Brangman was Bermuda's leading scorer at 42 not out. Pace bowler Kaleem Sana led Canada's bowlers with three wickets.
Canada faces the Cayman Islands on Monday, the Bahamas on Wednesday, the Cayman Islands on Thursday, the Bahamas on Saturday and Bermuda next Sunday.
The Cayman Islands and Bahamas were recently promoted from the Subregional Qualifier.
Canada is ranked 19th in T20 play by the International Cricket Council, compared to No. 28 for Bermuda, No. 41 for the Cayman Islands and No. 51 for the Bahamas.
—-
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Canadian men win again at ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier
KING CITY - Dilpreet Bajwa scored 55 runs and fellow opener Yuvray Samra added 25 Thursday as Canada defeated the Cayman Islands by 42 runs in a rain-shortened match at the Americas Qualifier for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. The weather restricted both teams to five overs, instead of the normal 20. Canada, the Bahamas, Bermuda and Cayman Islands are competing in an eight-day double round-robin format that will see the group winner advance to next year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Thursday's win improved Canada's record to 4-0-0. The Caymans won the toss and elected to field at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground. Bajwa slammed three fours and four sixes in his 21-ball inning as Canada finished at 81 not out. In response, the Cayman Islands were 39 for five in their five overs. Opener Jermaine Baker led the Caymans with 15 runs. Shivam Sharma took two wickets for Canada, which faces the Bahamas on Saturday and Bermuda on Sunday. Canada made its T20 World Cup debut last year, failing to advance out of the group stage after beating No. 11 Ireland and losing to No. 8 Pakistan and co-host U.S., ranked 17th. A match against No. 1 India was abandoned due to inclement weather. The Cayman Islands and Bahamas were recently promoted from the Subregional Qualifier. Canada is ranked 19th in T20 play by the International Cricket Council, compared to No. 27 for Bermuda, No. 41 for the Cayman Islands and No. 52 for the Bahamas. —- This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025.
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Juventus players befuddled by visit with Trump at White House: ‘I just want to play football, man'
Members of the Italian soccer team Juventus visited with President Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon. Exactly why the gathering took place remains largely a mystery. Six of the team's players (Weston McKennie, Timothy Weah, Manuel Locatelli, Federico Gatti, Teun Koopmeiners and Dusan Vlahovic), their coach Igor Tudor, a handful of team executives and FIFA president Gianni Infantino stopped by hours before Juventus' FIFA Club World Cup game against United Arab Emirates' Al Ain that night at Audi Field. Trump was presented with a Juventus jersey and one for next year's World Cup, which the United States will be co-host with Canada and Mexico. But as Trump took questions from the media for about 15 minutes during the event, very little soccer was discussed. Instead, the players stood behind him patiently — fidgeting now and then, their faces mainly expressionless — as Trump answered questions that mostly related to the potential of U.S. involvement in Israel's war against Iran. Later that night, speaking to a different group of reporters after his team's 5-0 victory over Al Ain, Weah called the White House experience 'a bit weird' and implied he and the other players weren't given the option of declining the visit. 'They told us that we have to go and I had no choice but to go,' said Weah, a U.S. men's national team member whose father George is a past winner of the prestigious France Football Ballon d'Or award and was the president of Liberia from 2018-2024. 'So [I] showed up.' FIFA declined to comment. The White House and Juventus did not respond to requests for comment from The Times. While Weah said he thought his first White House visit 'was a cool experience,' he added that 'I'm not one for the politics, so it wasn't that exciting.' 'When [Trump] started talking about all the politics with Iran and everything, it's kind of like, I just want to play football, man,' Weah said. Fellow USMNT player McKennie had made critical comments about Trump during the Black Lives Matter movement in June 2020. 'I don't think that Trump is the right one for the job as the president,' McKennie said at the time. 'I think he's ignorant. I don't support him a bit. I don't think he's a man to stand by his word. In my eyes, you can call him racist.' Still, during his introductory comments, Trump briefly singled out Weah and McKennie as 'my American players' when he mentioned that night's game. 'Good luck,' he said while shaking both of their hands in what had the potential to be an awkward moment. 'I hope you guys are the two best players on the field.' That's not to say, however, that there weren't any awkward moments. Because there were — none more so than when Trump brought up 'men playing in women's sports,' then looked over his right shoulder and asked: 'Could a woman make your team, fellas? Tell me. You think?' When no players answered, Trump said, 'You're being nice,' then turned to face the other direction and asked the same question. 'We have a very good women's team,' Juventus general manager Damien Comolli replied. Trump asked, 'But they should be playing with women, right?' When he got no response, Trump smiled and turned back toward the reporters. 'See, they're very diplomatic,' he said. Trump made a couple of other attempts to involve the soccer contingent in the discussion. At one point, the president used the word 'stealth' when discussing U.S. military planes, then turned around and remarked, 'You guys want to be stealthy tonight. You can be stealthy — you'll never lose, right?' The players did not seem to respond. For the final question of the session, a reporter favorably compared Trump's border policy to that of former President Biden and asked, 'What do you attribute that success to?' Trump looked behind him and stated, 'See, that's what I call a good question, fellas.' Once again, the players did not appear to respond.
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Canada Soccer preparing response to CONCACAF over alleged incident in Vancouver
Canada Soccer says it is preparing its response to CONCACAF over an alleged incident involving suspended coach Jesse Marsch at Canada's 6-0 Gold Cup win over Honduras on Tuesday in Vancouver. CONCACAF said it has initiated disciplinary proceedings 'to investigate the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) and its head coach, Jesse Marsch, for incidents that occurred during the 2025 Gold Cup match between Canada and Honduras on June 17, 2025. 'The Disciplinary Committee will review all available evidence, including official reports detailing that the CSA and its head coach disregarded regulations applicable to suspended match officials and used offensive language toward CONCACAF match officials.' Marsch, serving the first of a two-game ban, watched the game at B.C. Place Stadium from a suite alongside other Canadian team officials. TV showed him taking notes and watching, with a laptop in front of him. Assistant coach Mauro Biello ran the sideline in his absence. 'We received a notice from CONCACAF and are currently gathering the relevant information, for our submission, as part of the process to resolve this matter,' Canada Soccer said in a one-sentence statement Thursday. Canada, ranked 30th in the world, continues Group B play in Houston against No. 90 Curaçao on Saturday and No. 81 El Salvador on Tuesday. Marsch's original suspension stems from a red card received in the third-place game at the CONCACAF Nations League in March. In addition to the automatic one-game ban for the red card, Marsch was given another game by the CONCACAF Disciplinary Committee in mid-April 'for unacceptable conduct towards the match officials and for delaying the restart of the match by refusing to leave the field of play.' At the time, the Disciplinary Committee also warned Canada Soccer and Marsch 'that more severe sanctions could be taken should incidents occur during future matches.' Marsch was sent off in the 54th minute of Canada's 2-1 win over the U.S. on March 23 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., for protesting the lack of a penalty call by Mexican referee Katia Garcia. Marsch, still smarting over a missed penalty in the 2-0 semifinal loss to Mexico when Mexican captain Edson Alvarez got a piece of Derek Cornelius in the Mexican penalty box, saw red after Garcia waved play on after Jonathan David hit the turf for the second time in the U.S. penalty box. Replays seemed to show David lost his footing as he attempted a quick turn to evade defender Max Arfsten. David had also gone down minutes earlier in the U.S. box under pressure from Tyler Adams with Garcia waving play on. Marsch acknowledged that his anger at the no-calls was fuelled in part by his squad's ongoing frustration at their treatment in CONCACAF. 'I said this a little bit the day before the (third-place) match, the players made it clear to me that we needed to stand up for ourselves,' Marsh said at the time. 'Obviously I was disappointed with the referee (Honduran Hector Martinez) in the match against Mexico. But they were angry. There's a difference between disappointment and anger. And they were very clear that they think that we need to do something.' 'The only miscalculation I made was I should have had that reaction for the first penalty. Because the second one wasn't a penalty,' he added. Marsch reckons he had received four or five red cards previously in his managerial career — and two as a player. —- This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025.
