Global T20 Canada: All you need to know about Toronto Nationals

Strengths

Toronto

have

plenty of world-class all-rounders

One of the best-organized sides, the Nationals are a formidable bunch with everyone but two players in the squad having had a taste of international cricket. More importantly, they have made sure to have the team balance in mind while signing players during the drafting process. Hence, they find themselves with a host of talented batsmen and bowlers, all experienced, to pick eleven from to feature in their opening game against Vancouver Knights.

Johnson Charles and Anton Devcich are both proven players of the format and both particularly good in the field restriction phase. Devcich is one of the numerous players in the squad serving dual skills to his side with his handy spin bowling, alongside the likes of skipper Sammy and the Mumbaikar Trinidadian Kieron Pollard.

In the bowling department, watch out for Rumman Raees, in the brief phase he has had for Pakistan at the highest level in adhering to whatever requirements asked of by the captain. Kesrick Williams is another commodity in T20 cricket that teams will be glad to have, a rather unassuming build, he does the job well with his tidy medium pacers that allow batsmen no breathing room.

Weaknesses

If put through a very fine sieve of analysis, the one apparent shortcoming in this team seems to be the lack of variety. The players do not differ from each other in terms of style of play, be it the batsmen or the bowling stocks. This is a particularly alarming sign in the age of modern Twenty20, the age of graphic scrutinizing and metric-based player dissection, where a one-dimensional side can be easily countered by formulating uncomplicated specific plans.

For instance, two out of their three potential top order, Devcich and Charles, like pace on the ball and struggle against swing, and on occasions where the ball grips onto the surface. The two Caribbean all-rounders are identical bowlers relying on slow cutters and their variations primarily come from a change of release points. If examined hard enough, it is easy to prepare to play against a team of this nature.