Canada, which officially resurrected cricket as a national game just two months ago, is holding its first one-day international tri-series this week with teams including the West Indies and Bermuda.

The matches are being played at King City near Toronto August 18-24, with the controversial Darrell Hair of Australia and Roger Dill of Bermuda standing as umpires. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has deputed Ranjan Madugalle to officiate as match referee.

After the Sahara Cup between India and Pakistan here in the late 1990s, the tri-series will be the first major international ODI series on Canadian soil.

Scotiabank, the country’s second largest bank and which has officially undertaken promotion of cricket in Canada, is sponsoring the tri-series and will do so in perpetuity, Cricket Canada CEO Atul Ahuja said.

"It is a matter of pride that top international players from the West Indies and Bermuda will be playing for the first time in Canada," he added.

With the ODI series about to become an annual feature, cricket will get a big boost in Canada, Ahuja added.

The series has come as a consolation for the fledging cricketing nation that was to hold the first quadrangular Twenty20 series this week.

But the slam-bang series had to be cancelled because of Pakistan’s non-participation.

Apart from the Canadian government and the nation’s top banks, the ICC has targeted Canada as a priority nation to promote cricket.

The nation’s cricket governing body has just rechristened itself Cricket Canada. The new body has ushered in major changes to make cricket popular among white Canadians and schoolchildren.