Welsh bowls Canada to victory in three days

Canada laid to rest the demons of its disappointing opening ICC Intercontinental Cup match against the Netherlands last week by completing a comprehensive innings defeat of the United Arab Emirates at Toronto on Sunday.

Medium-pacer Steve Welsh was the hero for the home side as he followed up on his seven wickets in the first innings with another five in the second as the UAE was all out for just 110, falling short by an innings and 228 runs.

Only Shadeep Silva put up any kind of resistance on day three as he added 43 before becoming Welsh s latest victim. But no one else made the Canadians sweat as the UAE collapsed from 85-2 in its second innings to 110 all out.

Welsh ended with match figures of 12-93, his best first-class effort, and was the clear choice for the man of the match award. And this was despite the competition from his stand-in captain Sunil Dhaniram. The 38-year-old was filling in for skipper Ashish Bagai and made sure he led from the front, scoring an unbeaten 141 to put Canada in a commanding position on day two.

It was a position his side was determined not to relinquish and the manner in which it finished off the UAE was impressive and a sign of a team keen to take its chance this time around.

Last week, Canada finalist in this competition in 2004 and 2006 went down in a tight match against a Peter Borren-inspired Dutch side but in the past few days it has shown some of the form that has put it at the forefront of the ICC Intercontinental Cup since its inception three years ago.

Welsh was well backed up by his fellow bowlers yesterday, especially Durand Soraine who took 3-8 off five overs and Henry Osinde, who finished with figures of 2-43, including the scalps of opening batsmen Arshad Ali and Gayan Silva.

This win puts Canada on top of the log in these early stages of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007-08 although defending champion Ireland, along with other teams such as Kenya, Namibia and Bermuda have yet to get their campaigns underway.

The ICC Intercontinental Cup has quickly grown in stature and profile since its inception three years ago and now the ICC s premier first-class tournament is an integral part of the Associate Members cricket schedule.

Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event has evolved into an eight-team, round-robin and truly global tournament featuring four-day cricket which gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the chance to experience the longer form of the game.

Scotland won the first ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada in the final, while Ireland has been victorious in both events since then, beating Kenya in the 2005 decider and Canada earlier this year in the 2006-07event.

The final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2007-08 will take place in November 2008 at a venue yet to be decided.