December 17, 2013 - 12:44 PM
TORONTO - Ashish Bagai will lead Canada at the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier next month in New Zealand.
Bagai, Harvir Baidwan and Khurram Chohan all played in the 2011 World Cup when Canada went 1-5 with the lone win coming over Kenya.
Former England under-19 coach Andy Pick, who directed Canada at the 2007 Cricket World Cup, is back at the helm. He succeeds Gus Logie who was let go earlier this month.
The qualifying tournament is to be held at seven venues from Jan. 13 to Feb. 1 when Canada and nine other countries compete for the last two remaining berths in the 2105 World Cup.
Other countries are Hong Kong, Kenya, Namibia, Nepal, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.
The teams have been split into two groups of five each, with the top three from each group progressing to the Super Six stage.
Canada opens against the U.A.E. on Jan. 15 after warmup matches against the Netherlands and Uganda.
Associate members Afghanistan and Ireland have already qualified for the 14-team World Cup, set for Feb. 14 to March 29, 2015, in Australia and New Zealand.
Afghanistan is in Group A with England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and New Zealand while Ireland is in Group B with South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
The winner of the qualifying tournament will move into Group A while the runner-up slots into Group B.
Sri Lanka won the inaugural qualifying tournament, previously known as the ICC Trophy, in 1979. Other winners were Zimbabwe (1982, 1986 and 1990), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (1994), Bangladesh (1997), Netherlands (2001), Scotland (2005) and Ireland (2009).
Canada played in the 1979, 2003, 2007 and 2011 editions of the World Cup
The Canadian men are coming off a disappointing showing at a World Twenty20 Championship qualifier where they finished 12th.
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Canada
Ashish Bagai, Harvir Baidwan, Khurram Chohan, Parth Desai, Nikhil Dutta, Jeremy Gordon, Ruvindu Gunasekara, Jimmy Hansra, Nitish Kumar, Usman Limbada, Cecil Pervez, Raza Rehman, Junaid Siddiqui, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Hamza Tariq.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013