Summary:

• On Monday, Canada marked its first one-day international on home soil in 11 years. 
• Nicholas Kirton and Dilon Heyliger showed off their skills and brought a dominating 103-run win over Nepal in an ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 match.
• Kirton scored 73 runs not out while Heyliger took five wickets. 

Cricket fans of 19th-ranked Canada who gathered at the Maple Leaf North-West Ground on Monday witnessed the national team beat Nepal in the first one-day international on home soil in 11 years. 

The Canadian men’s team managed to take back its one-day international status by finishing in the top four of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff in April 2023 in Bermuda.

Excellent Match for Kirton and Heyliger

The top scorers were captain Nicholas Kirton, who battled fifth and played a knock of 73 runs not out off 44 balls and also smashed three boundaries and six sixes, Navneet Dhaliwal, who chipped in with 48 runs off 90 balls, and Dilon Heyliger who took five wickets and propelled the team a respectable score that brought victory.

Heyliger’s pioneering five-wicket haul wearing Canadian colours brought him good luck, as he managed the feat at the expense of 31 runs in 10 overs.

The final result marked No. 16 Nepal’s first loss against the Canadians. In February, the Nepalese blanked Canada in a three-match one-day international series.

Captain Kirton helped maintain the scoreboard turning as Canada, which was languishing at 136 for five after 38 overs, managed to score 117 runs in the last 12 overs, finishing at 253 for eight. 

Their opponents were all out for 150 in the 41st over. On their side, Karan KC battled 10th and led the attack with 27 runs while Sandeep Lamichhane, batting eighth, brought in 22.

Canada, Second in the World League 2 Table

Canada went over No. 11 Scotland and moved into second position in the eight-team World League 2 table, improving to 5-4-0.

Nepal dropped to 1-4-0 and reached the seventh position. The table is topped by the 14th-ranked Netherlands at 6-2-0.

The World League 2 teams will each play 36 one-day internationals organized across nine triangular series that will last until December 2026. 

The first four sides will then go through to a World Cup qualifier. The latter will ultimately establish the last four berths in the expanded 14-team Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The Canadians came out victorious out of all four matches in the opening World League 2 tri-series held in February-March but lost four in a row to the US and Netherlands in August.