PORT-OF-SPAIN: Canadian captain John Davison may not be a Brian Lara or a Sachin Tendulkar, but he has the talent to upstage the batting superstars in the World Cup with his clean and powerful hitting.   

He has already done it in the 2003 edition in South Africa when he hammered a 67-ball century - the fastest in the Cup history - against the West Indies in a group match at Centurion.   

"It surprised me, but I was happy to get the fastest hundred on the big stage. A big smile came on my face. It was unbelievable because of the quality of cricketers we played against," Davison said.   

He proved that it was no flash in the pan as he smashed the third-fastest World Cup half-century off 25 balls against New Zealand in a league match of the same edition at Benoni.   

Minnows Canada have often done well when Davison scores big because he is the lynchpin of their batting, having the strokes to demoralise any attack.   

The 36-year-old is gearing up for the mega one-day event which starts in Jamaica with a match between the West Indies and Pakistan on March 13, but admits it would not be easy to repeat the 2003 performance.   

"I don't think the wickets here will be as conducive to fast scoring as they were in South Africa. It was a beautiful batting track at Centurion," said Davision, who has played first-class cricket for South Australia and Victoria.   

"It will be more challenging this time. Before the last World Cup, I had been playing first-class cricket in Australia. This time, I have been playing only club cricket for the past two years. So, it will be a bigger challenge."   

Davison said his team's aim was to play good cricket against England and New Zealand in group matches and to beat 2003 semi-finalists Kenya. The top two sides will advance to the Super Eight stage.   

"As a team we talk about beating Kenya and to be competitive against England and New Zealand. We played Kenya recently and won one and lost one," said Davison, who is also a useful off-spinner.   

"You never know if things go your way, like Bangladesh beating New Zealand recently. If you play well and the other team play poorly, you never know and so it will be a great result if we get through the next round.   

"But I will be happy if we beat Kenya and be competitive against the two Test-playing nations."   

Davison believed the non-Test-playing nations could improve if they got an opportunity to play against bigger teams.   

"I think the ICC should possibly come out with some sort of process where the top two associate members get to play the two bottom Test teams," he said.   

"Somehow that gives the associate teams an opportunity to perform well over a period of time. A couple of associate sides have played very well against Test teams and if something like that happens it will be great."   

Canada may have just one first-class cricketer in their ranks in Geoff Barnett who has played for Central Districts in New Zealand, but can exceed expectations if Davison fires.