Canadian men to open ICC T20 World Cup against the U.S. in Dallas

Canada cricket captain Saad Bin Zafar is shown in this handout image provided by Cricket Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Cricket Canada

Canada and the U.S. will meet June 1 at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas to kick off the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

The West Indies, which is co-hosting the 55-game tournament with the U.S., opens June 2 against Papura New Guinea at the Guyana National Stadium.

Canada will then meet Ireland on June 7 and Pakistan on June 11, with both games in suburban New York, before wrapping up Group A play against India on June 15 in Lauderhill, Fla.

Led by captain Saad Bin Zafar, the Canadian men qualified for their first T20 World Cup in October, defeating Bermuda by 39 runs to win the four-team ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Region Final. Canada and Bermuda both finished with 4-1-0 records with one no-result. But Canada, which lost to Bermuda by 86 runs in its opening match, won the tournament by a superior net run rate (3.98 to 2.41).

The Canadians failed to qualify for the eight previous editions of the T20 World Cup, which has expanded to 20 teams in 2024.

Group B is made up of defending champion England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland and Oman. Group C consists of New Zealand, the West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea while Group D is South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Nepal.

The top two teams in each group move on to the Super Eights, to be played in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The two top teams from each pool in the Super Eight then move on to the semifinals in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago on June 26 and 27 June, respectively. The final will be held June 29 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

Rivals India and Pakistan will face off June 9 in a 34,000-seat modular stadium some 50 kilometres east of downtown Manhattan in Nassau County. Eight matches will be played at the venue.

First-round matches in the U.S. will be split between Nassau County International Cricket Stadium (New York), Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium (Dallas) and Broward County Stadium (Lauderhill).

West Indies, which hosted the event in 2010, will hold matches at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium (Antigua and Barbuda), Kensington Oval (Barbados), Guyana National Stadium (Guyana), Daren Sammy Cricket Ground (Saint Lucia), Arnos Vale (Saint Vincent and The Grenadines) and Brian Lara Cricket Academy (Trinidad and Tobago).

The Canada-U. S. rivalry is considered the oldest in international cricket, given the two met in what is thought to be the first international cricket match in 1844, 33 years prior to England's meeting against Australia. Canada won the two-innings match by 23 runs that day at the St. George's Cricket Club in Manhattan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2024