WC Cricket Q - Do you remember John Davison and the other player from Tamilnadu ?

Millions are set to watch 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup action.  The Tenth Cricket WC will kick off with Bangladesh playing India on 19th Feb 2011.  14 teams are in  the fray and 42 preliminary matches would determine the 8 qualifiers – then on it is KO – who delivers the powerful punch – 3 wins in a row could see the Team lifting the Cup – the dream of every cricketer.

Few days back Team India was announced and it was :   Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra. But 11 days before,  Praveen Kumar is yet to recover from the elbow injury and the consultations with the noted orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Andrew Wallace has not turned him match fit.  He is likely to be replaced by S Sreesanth, to be approved by ICC’s technical committee.

Meantime, do you remember John Michael Davison ? and can you answer who is the player from Tamilnadu who would be playing in this WC (apart from Ravichandran Ashwin) ?

The Indian team is governed by the BCCI but  Team Canada is their National cricket team run by Cricket Canada.   Politically, Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories and is located in the northern part of the continent, extending from  Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area.  Like many other countries, it was land of aboriginal people, explored and settled by British, French and others.  The country is a federation governed as a Parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. It is a bilingual nation with both English and French as official languages at the federal level.

Canada is not sanctioned to play Test but takes part in One dayers and plays regularly against non-test playing nations and their rivalry against USA is strong.  The ODI No. 2752 played between Canada & West Indies on 24th Aug 2008 – Scotiabank Series Final’s result played at Maple Leaf North- West Ground, King City,  is not great significance but is relevant to the Question on top.  West Indies won that match by 7 wickets with 135 balls to spare.  This man bowled 7 overs conceded 50 and took 2 wickets on his debut in that match. 

Canada played 1979 version with no success and were back in SA in 2003.  Its squad was a delicate mixture of players from the India, Pak, Lanka and W Indies.  All rounder John Davison carved out a niche.  In the Intercontinental Cup against the USA, he took  17 wickets for 137 runs.  In 2003, they had the ignominy of being dismissed for paltry 36 by the Lankans.  In the next game, John Davison scored the fastest ever WC century but Canada lost the match still.   He scored 111 (100 off 67 balls – then quickest century) and made 50 off 23 against New Zealand.

Now coming to the other Tamilnadu Player – he is not playing for India.  Once upon a time the  U19  Team that toured Srilanka in 1997 had hosts of Ranji players including Joti Jadav, Shiv Sundar Das, Akash Chopra, Amit Pagnis, Ajit Agarkar and WD Balaji Rao.    Balaji had been there with the previous U19 teams as well. 

The Canadian challenge is led by Ashish Bagai, who is also from India.  The team features some players who have come through the ranks from their youth programme.   Jamaican born Tyson Gordon has been picked but he is awaiting his confirmation of citizenship. 

Wandavasi Dorakanti Balaji Rao, born in Madras in 1978 played for Tamilnadu and Railways in Ranji trophy.  He was a left handed batsman and good leg spinner.   He made his debut for Canada against WI as written above and has played T 20 also.  Once touted as a national prospect, Balaji rao withered into wilderness after playing for India Youth in 1995 against a strong England team.  He could never break higher despite his talent and shifted his base years later.  Now he would be coming back to his homeland – though Canada is not playing any in Chennai.

Seen in this photo : Balajirao (bowler) – Nayan Mongia appealing against Jason Gillespie.

Canada is led by Ashish Bagai who was born in Delhi, a right handed batsman keeper.

Regards – S. Sampathkumar.