Flintoff Omission Gave Canada Hope

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Flintoff - left out by England.

By Richard Gibson, PA Sport, St Lucia

Canada captain John Davison reckoned the absence of Andrew Flintoff opened up the chance of another World Cup shock to match Ireland's surprise win over Pakistan.

England all-rounder Flintoff, 29, was axed from the Group C contest at Beausejour, which the Canadians lost by 51 runs, for disciplinary reasons.

Just 24 hours after the Irish knocked Pakistan - who have since had to endure the death of coach Bob Woolmer - out of the Caribbean competition, England lacked potency with the ball in Flintoff's absence and Ashif Mulla and Abdool Samad excited the crowd with a 96-run stand.

"Obviously a player of his quality would be a big loss to any team so I am sure it had some effect," said Davison. "It would have been a great experience to play him but if we were hoping to win the game it was better that he wasn't in the team.

"The England attack missed him, in the middle stages when we had that partnership going, to come on and make a breakthrough.

"No one looked as if they could blast us out on that wicket and I am sure Freddie might have had a chance.

"It would have been interesting to see if they had been playing Australia or somebody like that, if they would have had the same disciplinary action."

Canada left a gloss of respectability on their defeat by closing on 228 for seven, comfortably their highest score in 11 World Cup matches.

"When we realised we weren't going to get the total that was a focus for us, to get as many as we could and, to get our highest score at a World Cup, that's a bonus," said Davison.