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Davison out to avoid another duck
2011-03-02 12:14:05John Davison on Wednesday admitted disappointment at his individual form and that of the Canadian batting order ahead of Thursday’s World Cup Group A clash against Pakistan
The Canucks were bowled out for a mere 122 in their tournament opener against Sri Lanka and a week later managed just 123 against Zimbabwe. Opening batsman Davison fell for a duck in both games.
The minnows now face the near impossible task of upstaging Pakistan, who over the weekend dominated fellow tournament favourites Sri Lanka.
“Personally for me, it’s more of a mental game. I am 40 years old and probably have those self-doubts - do I have the ability to perform at this level?” rued Davison, who banged a record whirlwind century against the West Indies in the 2003 World Cup.
“I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well in the nets. I got a good ball against Sri Lanka and then had a plan to hit Zimbabwe spinner Ray Price but probably could’ve given myself a few more balls to get in.
“This World Cup is not so great compared to the others. In the last World Cups we have scored 250-plus against England and New Zealand but at the moment everybody is pretty down.”
Pace ace Lasith Malinga bagged six for 38, including a hat-trick against Kenya earlier in the week, with reverse-swing aiding his ODI career-best figures considerably. And South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has admitted that ability to reverse the ball is proving far more instrumental than initially anticipated.
Davison is in total agreement with Steyn and hopes Canada are able to combat Pakistan swing bowlers Umar Gul and company come Wednesday.
“We haven’t played them before but know that they are a great team with a very varied attack and, besides reading their spinners, the big challenge in the sub-continent is to play reverse-swing,” he added.
“We saw in the Kenya game that pace is lethal for guys not used to it, so we have to have plans.”