This, unfortunately, was a "dead match". Neither team could qualify for the semi-finals as both had been beaten by UAE and Bermuda. Only the bottom place in the group was at stake and Ireland were destined to occupy it. Ireland decided to pack their batting. They left out both P McCrum and Moore. Doak came in for Dunlop who was ill on the morning of the match. Canada had to field without Prashad who had broken his arm. He had scored 83 -v- Ireland in the first practice match which had also been played at the Premier Ground.
Ireland won the toss and batted. All went well for quite a while. Benson had his usual flourish - 3 fours in the first 3 overs and then got out in the 5th over. Having made 20 of 23 he got a slow lifter which he popped to cover. Cohen came in to join Rea. Surely Lewis or Graham would have been a better choice to keep the scorecard ticking. The 2nd wicket put on 43 in 14 overs. At the drinks interval (17 overs) the score was 63. Rea fell in the 19th over, edging a leg cutter to the wicket keeper. 66-2-18. Lewis, who came in next, was playing well and 100 was up in 25.1 overs and this was a good platform.
From this point there was a deterioration. In the 26th over Lewis fell over trying to sweep slow left armer Seebaran and was bowled round his legs, 101-3-16. In Seebaran's next over Harrison dollied a catch to short extra cover. 105-4-4. C McCrum joined Cohen (who was now 31) in the 28th over. This was an excruciatingly slow stand. It went on until the 45th over and put on 66 runs. Of these C McCrum made 20! Cohen had been asked to sheet-anchor the innings but as plans went wrong he should have been able to up his pace as the Senior batsman. Only 3 fours were struck - all to Cohen. With only 4 wickets down the stand effectively scuppered any hope of a realistic total.
Canada used 7 bowlers and it was the 7th, Maxwell, in the 45th over, who took the 5th wicket when Cohen snicked to the wicket-keeper. 111-5-74. Cohen's 74 came off 123 balls with 6 fours. Four overs remained and in them Ireland scored 41 chiefly due to Graham's 19*. C McCrum was out in the 48th over when Graham refused a run to mid-on. McCrum faced 55 balls for his 24. Jackson made 9 before being stumped and only 7 wickets were down for 212 at the end. All Canada's leading four bowlers had good figures but their remaining 3 bowlers gave away 79 runs in 12 overs.
Ireland took wickets at regular intervals but they were always going to struggle in using a combination of Doak and Benson as the 5th bowler. In 11 overs these two conceded 60 runs. Doak was used as 1st change and Lewis did not bowl at all. In the 5th over Nelson had Gardner LBW at 10. By the 19th over, Benson's 1st, Isaac and D Singh had advanced the score to 80. With the last ball of this over Benson had Isaac (33) out to a very quick stumping by Jackson. C.McCrum, the 6th bowler used, got a wicket in the 24th over when D Singh (47) was caught by Nelson at cover. 104 for 3. In the 27th over Harrison was hit for two successive sixes by Maxwell who was caught at deep square leg on the next ball. 133-4-40. Nelson returned for the 38th over by which time 41 more runs had been scored. In the 1st over of his new spell Nelson had Lyburd lbw for 23 at 174. This was the last wicket Ireland took in the Tournament. Dutchin, with five fours and a six, and Barrow hit off the remaining 39 runs in 8 overs and Canada won with 4 overs to spare. Their 213 runs contained 122 runs in boundaries, 3 x 6 and 26 x 4. Man-of-the-Match award went, perhaps controversially, to Cohen.
The Irish Umpire, Paddy O'Hara, must be mentioned. He was regarded as the best in the Tournament. In the final week, on successive days, he umpired the 3rd place play off and the UAE -v- Kenya final.
The match v Canada saw the finale of three of the Irish players:
MF Cohen He earned 69 caps in a career that lasted from 1980 to 1994. He left Ireland after the tournament was over. He was not much used in Nairobi, though he won the Man-of-the-Match on his finale. In all he scored 2,519 runs at an average of 28.62. He scored 2 centuries and 17 fifties.
AN Nelson His retirement was a big loss. He was still only 28 when he retired. During his six year career (1988 to 1994) he took 74 wickets in 43 matches at an average of 27.71. His bowling was very similar to that of DE Goodwin.
C McCrum He gained 22 caps between 1990 and 1994. He scored 567 runs at 25.77 with two fifties and took 25 wickets at 29.24. His great moment for Ireland was bowling out England Amateur at Edgbaston in the Triple Crown of 1993.