The Canadian cricket team is a national Cricket team representing Canada in international competition. While Canada is not sanctioned to play Test matches, the team does take part in One Day International matches and also in first-class games (in the ICCIntercontinental Cup) against other non-Test-playing opposition, with the rivalry against the United States cricket team being as strong in cricket as it is in other team sports. The match between these two nations is in fact the oldest international fixture in cricket, having first been played in 1884.

History
Canadian cricket has tended to take a lower profile than most other sports, and the team tends to be composed of expatriates from more successful cricketing nations either trying to achieve a level of international experience or having been deemed too old for their respective national teams. As cricket is not very popular in Canada, the Canadian team has many players of foreign origin.

Performance
Canada played in the 1979 World Cup, but did not qualify again till 2003 to play the tournament. The country has played in the ICC Trophy, Intercontinental Cup and the Commonwealth Games. Canada are always competition to the United States of America and the two share a healthy cricketing rivalry.

They did not qualify for any of the subsequent World Cups from 1983 to 1999. However they qualified for the 2003 World Cup after a third place finish in the 2001 ICC Trophy. Canada, playing in the World Cup after 34 long years, were not expected to perform too well in the tournament.

Players
Perhaps the most successful exponent of Canadian cricket has been all-rounder John Davison. Davison was born in Canada but played club and – occasionally – first class cricket in Australia, achieving a reputation as something of a journeyman. Taking advantage of his Canadian birth, he became a regular in the national squad. At the 2003 World Cup, Davison hit the fastest century in tournament history against the West Indies in what was ultimately a losing cause.

Chances in the 2007 World Cup
The 2007 world cup should be a good experience for Canadian cricket. They did put up some notable performance in 2003 world cup. Players like Davison did leave an impression. However as one of the stronger sides among the less popular teams participating in the World Cup, Canada will fancy their chances to finish the tournament with at least a few wins. It will be Canada’s third appearance in the championships and they would look to better their previous record where they failed to get past the first round.

The national cricket team representing Zimbabwe is known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Team and was formerly known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. Zimbabwe is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and one-day international status.

History
Zimbabwe is the ninth nation to play test cricket. It played its first Test against India in 1992. However, it had an established ODI team much before that and had even participated in three World Cups-in 1983, 1987 and 1992.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Team, though not a very strong unit, had some very good players in it. The most renowned of these were wicketkeeper batsman Andy Flower. At a time, Flower was also ranked as the world’s best batsman. The 1990s was a whole bunch of good players emerging from the Zimbabwe team. Grant Flower, Alistair Campbell, Heath Streak and Murray Goodwin were some of the most talented players to ever play for Zimbabwe.
Performance
Zimbabwe did not perform very well in Tests, though they were improving on their ODI performances. Zimbabwe were never considered a strong team, but they were known as fighters who were exceptionally good in the fielding department.

However at the end of the decade, Zimbabwe was plunged into political unrest and that kind of strained into the Cricket Team as well. As a result lot of the top players lost their places in the squad and the team was reduced to inexperience. Further controversy resulted in some top players striking and this was like the final straw for Zimbabwean cricket’s doom. The team had to be made up of players who were not ready for international cricket and this meant a disastrous phase for the team where they lost almost every match they played, both at home and away.Zimbabwe has not done much in world cricket except some upset shows here and there. Some good players have retired. Zimbabwe is also suffering from lots of internal problems, which is not good for cricket.

Chances in the 2007 World Cup
Zimbabwe have never reached the semifinals of the World Cup and it looks rather unlikely that they will do so in World Cup 2007. Zimbabwe cricket was rocked by a lot of controversy in the recent past and as a result a whole lot of top players like Andy Flower, Henry Olonga and Heath Streak lost their place in the side. To compensate the loss, the Zimbabwe selectors called up a new set of player, most of whom were not equipped to play at the international level. Consequently, the team’s performance suffered. Now with the World Cup coming up, it is unlikely that the team can come up with a miracle. Only a handful of players in the team have played in a World Cup before this. So it will be an uphill task for the Zimbabweans to perform well in the series.