|
|
At the Press conference held at Travelodge Toronto East today, the conveners announced the formation of Canadian Cricket Federation, a new national organization to cater to the needs of the sport of cricket in Canada. Speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors, Mr. Ali Abbas Hasanie, declared the birth of CCF as a historical moment in Canadian Cricket and a beginning of new a era for the sport of cricket in Canada. He defined the mission statement of newly created body as:
“Canadian Cricket Federation (CCF), a national organization, committed to develop and excel the game of Cricket to its highest level, by facilitating to build cricket facilities in major cricket centers, by organizing coaching and training centers and camps across Canada, by establishing a National Championship geared to identify the first class cricketers in Canada as well as to become the leaders in hosting national and international events in Canada.”
Addressing to media, Mr. Hasanie informed that CCF has been joined by all major provincial Cricket bodies ie., Ontario Cricket Association (OCA), Quebec Cricket Association (QCA), Alberta Cricket Federation (ACF), West Coast Cricket Association (WCCA) B.C., and Saskatchewan. He believes that other provincial bodies will soon join CCF.
Continue reading Canadian Cricket Federation established
Brian Findlay
Continuing its commitment to grassroots Cricket in Canada, the RBC Foundation today announced four grants to help improve cricket programming where it is needed most. In Toronto, a $25,000 grant will modify a baseball diamond and help the City of Toronto meet the incredible demand for cricket in its Thorncliffe community. “Currently we do not offer cricket programming in the Thorncliffe community,” said Roger Macklin, General Supervisor, Parks, North York District, in a proposal for the funding. “In the summer we see kids playing ‘street’ cricket in area parking lots and small alcoves around their schools. Thanks to RBC’s generous support we will now be able to offer these kids a better and safer place to play.”
Continue reading RBC helps meet surging demand for cricket (Oye Times)
Ashish Bagai has stepped down as Captain of Canada’s Senior Men’s team. In a letter to Cricket Canada’s board, Bagai said
“After a long thought-out evaluation and careful consideration, I have decided to step down as Captain of the Canadian National Cricket Team. It has been an honour to Captain my country in the sport I love and I thank everyone in this organization who helped and supported me throughout my term including administrators, coaches, managers and most of all, the players. I undertook each task over the last two years with the primary objective of moving not just the team but also the entire organization forward. I have always had a passion for Canadian cricket and did what I thought would benefit the team and organization in my opinion. It has been a great learning experience for me and I wish the next Captain all the best in leading the team forward.”
Continue reading Bagai steps down as captain (Cricket Canada)
Jeff Bell
The cricket pitch at Beacon Hill Park is set to have a $25,000 makeover. Work begins this summer and is expected to be completed in time for the park’s 130th anniversary celebrations next year.
Money for the project is coming from the RBC Foundation, which also recently announced funds for building or renovating cricket facilities in Abbotsford, Toronto and Montreal. The foundation has backed cricket across the country for the past five years through its RBC Wicket Cricket school program, an initiative that has brought equipment and professional instruction to more than 1,100 schools.
Continue reading Victoria cricket given financial boost (Times Colonist)
Angus Bell writes: After a huge effort from the Pirates, RBC and the city of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension in Montreal, we are getting cricket nets!
Progress Villeray–Parc-Extension covered the story:-
Des cages de frappeurs de cricket dans Parc-Extension
Les adeptes de cricket seront heureux d’apprendre qu’une aire d’entraînement pourvu de gazon artificiel, de filets et de cages de frappeurs sera bientôt installée dans Parc-Extension.
Engagé à l’égard des programmes communautaires de cricket au Canada, RBC Fondation versera 25 000 $ pour l’installation des cages de frappeurs. La fin des travaux est prévue d’ici l’automne.
Continue reading Pirates of St. Lawrence get nets
The Maritimes 20-20 tournament will take place June 10-12 in Halifax, featuring the best cricketer in Canada east of Ontario. Last year’s participants New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador are this year joined by Quebec. The teams will play a full round robin, with all games on the ground on the Commons in central Halifax.
Schedule follows
Continue reading Maritimes 20-20 schedule
By Ron Fanfair
Canada’s cricket captain Ashish Bagai will be keeping a very close eye on the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) annual conference in Hong Kong at the end of next month. At the request of ICC president Sharad Pawar, the executive board will reconsider the decision to decrease from 14 to 10 the number of contestants for the next World Cup, which will shut out the Associate countries – including Canada – which have vehemently opposed the move. At its meeting last April, the board also agreed that the 10-team format would be in place for the 2019 World Cup in England as well, though there would be a qualification tournament for that edition. Bagai’s contract with Cricket Canada expires at around the same time the ICC is meeting in Hong Kong, and the board’s decision on the next World Cup format could have a bearing on his future with the national senior team.
“I still want to play for Canada,” said the 29-year-old wicketkeeper who quit his job with the Union Bank of Switzerland in England in July 2008 to accept a central contract with Cricket Canada. “However, I am not sure how much longer I can make a full-time commitment to the sport here.”
The opportunity to become the first Canadian to play in four World Cups might be the only thing that would inspire the Delhi-born cricketer to stick with the national program for a few more years. Married last year and no doubt considering starting a family, he has been hobbled by patella femoral syndrome, a common knee injury among active athletes characterized by intense pain around the kneecap that increases with activity. The nagging left knee injury has bothered him for the past two years.
Continue reading Bagai awaits ICC decision on World Cup participants (Share News)
By Janelle Joseph
Dr. Janelle Joseph is a Research Fellow at the School of Physical Education, University of Otago, in New Zealand.
The Malvern Cricket Club (MCC) based out of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada is about to begin their 30th season. Some MCC members have been playing together in Canada since the 1970s. Their days of competitive cricket are over, but they continue to play ‘friendlies,’ with and against fellows from nearby cricket clubs in Pickering and Markham – and of course, no summer would be complete without a friendly competition with the Toronto Police Team.
Malvern’s regular season lasts from chilly May Saturdays and Sundays, through the blazing heat of July and August weekends, right into the cool breezes that wrap up September. Rain or shine, ageing players and their supporters are out at cricket grounds in the Greater Toronto Area. On a particularly nice day there could be over a hundred people in attendance, only twenty-two men donning their white gear. The grounds have become known as meeting places for Caribbean men and women from many different territories for socializing, business transactions, purchasing foods and baked goods, and eating dinner. A delicious spread of chicken, salad, and rice is provided after almost every game. Players and their supporters come “to experience the same ting we do home. Lime and chat and drink in the sunshine” says long-time club member, Pauline Hutson.
Continue reading Recreating a Sense of Home: Cricket in the Caribbean Diaspora (Starbroek News)
By Peter Della Penna
ICC Americas is strongly considering a plan to restructure the top division in men’s and U-19 cricket to correct a competitive imbalance. The plan was discussed last weekend at the ICC Americas Regional Development Forum in Costa Rica and could be pushed through as early as 2012 according to USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed.
“There’s a new division alignment that’s coming up that was discussed. It needs to be confirmed but they’re gonna change the alignment,” said Mohamed. “Instead of six teams in Division One, it would be four. The winner of Division Two would go into Division One.”
“Division One for the Region would be USA, Canada, Bermuda and one team from Division Two. They would play T20 along with 50 overs. So it’s gonna be a combination of both formats in the Division One tournament.” The realignment would not apply to women’s cricket or any junior cricket below the U-19 level within the region.
Continue reading Division restructuring could take place for ICC Americas in 2012 (DreamCricket USA)
Shortly after Rohan Burman arrived in Cambridge with his family from northern India, he dove into his new life by joining his school’s volleyball and badminton teams – even its drama club.
Yet he couldn’t help but think something was missing.
“Coming here to the (cricket) club is really a connection for me to back home,” the 16-year-old Jacob Hespeler student said after a recent indoor workout at the Manulife Financial Soccer and Sports Complex.
“Now I look forward to playing cricket every weekend.”
For a group of local teens, the game of cricket is more than a pastime, it provides an unbreakable bond to their heritage and even a roadmap to their future.
Burman is one of about 150 members of the Waterloo-based Sunrise Cricket Club, many of whom come from the south Asian nations of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, along with others from Britain and Australia.
Continue reading Cricket club links players’ past to their future (Waterloo Record)
What: Launch of the 2011 Ontario Cricket Association (OCA) U19 Tournament. The opening match is between Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA) team and the Australasian Cricket Academy team representing Brampton North.
When: Saturday, May 21, 2011; 12:30 pm – team presentations and 1:00 pm coin toss
Where: L’Amoureaux Cricket Field, McNicholl at Kennedy, north of 401
Come out and see [...]
Canada has drawn defending champions Afghanistan in the opening round of the 2011-2013 Intercontinental Cup. The International Cricket Council’s first class tournament will feature 8 teams and run over 3 years as opposed to the previous editions which ran over two years. Joining Canada in the tournament are Afghanistan, Scotland, Ireland, Namibia, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, and the Netherlands. Canada has not won any of the previous five tournaments but were finalists in 2004 and 2007.
Accompanying this tournament will be a 50 over tournament that creates an international 50 over league. The matches are slated to have full One Day International status however some items are still being reviewed with respect to Namibia and UAE who do not have ODI status.
The countries are in the process of negotiating match schedules for this associates Future Tours Program and matches will be announced in due course.
Afghanistan (June/July 2011), UAE (July/August 2013), and The Netherlands (September 2013) are Canada’s home matches in the tournament. Canada will visit Ireland (September 2012), Namibia (March/April 2012), Scotland (June/July 2012), and Kenya (March/April 2013) over the next 3 years.
The announcement ends speculation about the future of the tournament and gives schedule certainty to the ICC’s top Associate member countries for the next several years.
The ICC will make a decision about Canada and other Associates participation in the 2015 World Cup at their annual conference in June.
Continue reading ICC confirms I-C Cup schedule (Cricket Canada)
Liam Brickhill and Andrew McGlashan
In what could be a major boost to Associate teams, the ICC Cricket Committee has recommended there be a qualifying process for the 2015 World Cup after a two-day meeting at Lord’s. Though the recommendations are far from binding, the development will be warmly received by the nations who had seemingly been [...]
Peter Della Penna
The ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 Championship, originally scheduled to be held in Toronto, will now be held from July 17-24 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. ICC Americas Regional Development Manager Martin Vieira said the tournament was moved out of Toronto because the venues there became unavailable after the tournament was originally assigned.
“At the time of planning the event, there wasn’t a suitable venue available in Toronto and the Maple Leaf Cricket Club facilities were not available at that time,” Vieira told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday. “I had to make a decision. The Florida venues were discussed with USACA. They think they’re okay and a decision was made to move it to Florida, so I’m not about to bring it back to Toronto.”
Several recent events that have been played in Fort Lauderdale, including February’s ICC Americas U-19 Championship, the 2008 ICC Americas Division One and the last two USACA National Championships, have been split between natural and artificial turf wicket venues. However, Vieira said that all matches at this event will be played on grass wickets.
Continue reading ICC Americas Division One shifted from Toronto (CricInfo)
It may not have been the prettiest match in sporting history, but Salt Spring’s young and aspiring cricket squad made its Vancouver Island debut in a 20-over match in cool and windy conditions at Shawnigan Lake on Saturday afternoon. For those unaware of the sport’s basic principles, an over consists of six consecutive deliveries, or pitches. According to Phil Goddard, an Australian ex-pat who plays with the Salt Spring group, games that last for several days are rare, mostly played as part of special tournaments by professionals at the international levels.
He compares those long matches to something akin to a seven-game series in hockey or baseball. Contrary to the common misconception, Goddard said, the team wrapped up its match in roughly three hours.
Salt Spring, which picked up two Shawnigan Lake players to field a full 11-person squad, played valiantly but came up short in its 136-80 defeat.
Goddard said he hopes the weekend match will be the first of many regularly scheduled cricket matches this season.
The sport’s popularity on the island has grown slowly since the team began attracting the attention of passers-by during its regular Sunday afternoon meetings at Portlock Park last spring.
Continue reading Cricketers swing into island action (Gulf Islands Driftwood)
|
|
