Residents of Soufri?re play cricket with Petit Piton in the background, one of St. Lucia's twin volcanic cones. St. Lucia hosts Group C, which includes Canada and Kenya who play today. - Reuters

GROS ISLET, St. Lucia (CMC):

MINNOWS KENYA and Canada were in confident moods yesterday, on the eve of their opening Group C clash in the Cricket World Cup 2007 at the Beausejour ground today.

"Our preparations have gone pretty well during the 11 days we spent in Montego Bay and we had a very good net session today," Kenya's coach, Roger Harper, told CMC Sports.

The former West Indies all-rounder feels a victory for his team against the Canadians will depend on how well they gelled as a team.

"We are depending on everyone in the squad to make their contribution. We have very good team morale. Everyone needs to play their part and we can be competitive against the best," added Harper.

The Guyana-born Harper, who played 25 Tests and 105 one-day internationals for the West Indies, said Kenya needed to remain focused and be mindful of their limitations.

"We need to play our best cricket every game and approach it a game at a time," said Harper.

Canada's captain, John Davison, said he was trying to get his team focused on winning the game against the Kenyans, describing a victory as being crucial to their chances to advancing to the next round of the World Cup."We are in with a good chance if we can get our game together. We have some guys that can play a good game of cricket," he told CMC Sports.

He said his role in the team would vary from his usual swashbuckling approach to one of responsibility.

"I think my role will be to bat steadily and to get my game up to scratch. We will need a team effort and we are a closely knit unit," Davison added.

He made specific reference to the former West Indies fast bowler, Barbadian Anderson Cummins as one player who would have a lot to prove in the World Cup.

"We have a strong Caribbean flavour in our squad and one of them, Anderson Cummins, is keen to show he can still play at this level. He can play a vital role in our campaign," said Davison.

SQUADS (from): CANADA - John Davison, Qaiser Ali, Ashish Bagai, Geoff Barnett, Umar Bhatti, Ian Billcliff, Desmond Chumney, Austin Codrington, George Codrington, Anderson Cummins, Sunil Dhaniram, Asis Mulla, Henry Osinde, Abdool Samad, Kevin Sandher.

KENYA - Steve Tikolo, Rajesh Bhudia, Jimmy Kamande, Tanmay Mishra, Collins Obuya, David Obuya, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Thomas Odoyo, Peter Ongondo, Lameck Onyango, Maurice Ouma, Malhar Patel, Ravindu Shah, Tony Suji, Hiren Varaiya.