By RON FANFAIR
Canada's most productive batsmen at the just concluded International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup qualifying tournament in Ireland are unavailable for this month's Intercontinental Cup three-day tournament in Toronto.
Australian-based skipper John Davison has informed the selectors that he has a finger injury that will rule him out of the series. And middle-order batsman Ian Billcliff, who teaches in New Zealand, was unable to get time off to compete in the tournament.
Davison and Billcliff accounted for 39.79 per cent of their team's scoring in Ireland last month as Canada advanced to the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. They combined for 627 of the 1,576 runs that Canada compiled in seven matches.
Billcliff with 315 runs (av. 78.75) and Davison with 312 runs (av. 44.57) finished third and fourth in runs scored behind Bas Zuiderant of the Netherlands (474) and Ed Joyce of Ireland (399).
"Not having John and Ian are huge losses," admits middle-order batsman Desmond Chumney who is also uncertain whether he will compete in the tournament because of a sore knee.
Wicketkeeper/batsman Ashish Bagai, who missed last year's Intercontinental Cup semi-finals and final and the ICC World Cup qualifier, returned home on Tuesday from a two-month internship in the United States and is likely to be included in the squad.
All-rounder Austin Codrington is recovering from a back injury while medium-pacer Ashish Patel underwent knee surgery recently and will not be considered for selection.
Canada, which finished runner-up in the inaugural Intercontinental Cup three-day tournament last year, meets Bermuda from August 23-25 and the Cayman Islands from August 31-September 2.
The winner will represent the Americas in the global semi-finals and final in Namibia. The semi-finals will be held from October 23-25 and the final will be held October 27-29.
Kenya, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates have already qualified for the playoffs.