TORONTO, May 19: Dashing right-handed batsman John Davison will captain Canada in the inaugural ICC Intercontinental Cricket Cup in Bermuda, Canada and the United States during 2004.

Ben Sennik, President of the Canadian Cricket Association, told Dawn on Wednesday that the Intercontinental Cup is a new tournament set up by the ICC to develop cricket in the non-Test playing nations of the world.

The contest, he said, is divided into four global groups, namely the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa. The Americas group includes Canada, Bermuda and the United States.

Canada will meet the United States in the opening match at Fort Lauderdale in Florida on May 28-30 and then play Bermuda in Toronto on Aug 13-15. All matches will be of three-day duration and will be designated as first-class.

The winners of each world region will compete in the semifinals at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates between Nov 16-23, 2004. Sennik disclosed that Argentina's national team will make a stopover in Toronto while on its way down to Bermuda to play Intercontinental Cup match.

They will have an extensive practice session and play a two-day match here on July 2 and 3. The Canadian cricket chief spoke high of the new captain and said that Davison had scored a blazing 111 for Canada against the West Indies during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

Davison's 12-member team includes Manzoor Chaudhry and Zahid Hussain, who both are new Canadians of Pakistani origin.

Canadian team for Florida game is: John Davison (captain), Desmond Chumney, Zubin Zurkari, Ian Billcliff, Ashish Bagai, Manzoor Chaudhary, Haninder Dhillon, Don Maxwell, Sunil Dhaniram, Zahid Hussain, Austin Codrington and Ashish Patel.