LONDON, June 28: World Cup giant-killers Canada could be dropped from the International Cricket Council (ICC) High Performance programme.

Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) has been warned financial support could be withdrawn unless they come up with detailed proposals to take the game forward.

The ICC’s development manager Andrew Eade refused to confirm or deny the story.

He told BBC Sport website: “There has been some private correspondence between the ICC and the CCA but I cannot comment any more than that.”

Canada sprang a major surprise at the World Cup with a 60-run win over Bangladesh.

And although they lost their five other matches, there were some notable individual performances, especially John Davison’s brilliant 111 off 76 balls against West Indies.

But the Toronto Star newspaper quoted national captain Joe Harris as saying the CCA has sat back and done nothing in the last three months.

“With qualifying for the next World Cup just two years away, we do not even have a coach,” he commented.

“It’s a shame that we’re not cashing in on our showing in South Africa.”

The Canadian players are also angry that they have not yet been paid for taking part in the tournament.

ICC High Performance Director Bob Woolmer recently visited Canada and reported-ly commented that his involvement with Canadian cricket was “largely a waste of time”.

There is no national league structure in place in the country, largely because of the vast distances involved.

Toronto staged 22 One-day Internationals between 1996 and 1999 involving India, Pakistan and the West

Indies and also hosted the 2001 World Cup qualifying tournament.

North America is seen as an important expansion area by the ICC, who are considering possibility of staging some games in the USA during the 2007 World Cup.—PPI