Eddie Norfolk
On what may have been one of the better days for cricket in the round-robin phase of this year’s York Region Athletic Association (YRAA) Varsity Boys cricket, defending champions Maple High School beat previously undefeated Middlefield Collegiate Institute by 55 runs to 54. Thursday’s (October 11, 2018) result completes Middlefield’s round-robin play with 3 wins and 1 loss. Maple HS, currently reported with 2 wins and no losses, is due to play Bill Crothers Secondary School (1 win, 2 losses) on Monday (October 15) in the last round-robin game of the season.
Bill Hogarth has completed four round-robin games with a record of 1 win and 3 losses, so Maple HS has certainly qualified for next Wednesday’s playoffs that involve the top four of the five participating schools in this 2018-2019 school year tournament. The result of the Maple HS versus Bur Oak SS game on October 4 is not reported, at present, in the official YRAA records.
My plans to see Thursday’s Maple-Middlefield game dissolved before I even reached the nearby subway station in south-western parts of the amalgamated City of Toronto. So I came no where close to reaching the McCowan Reservoir grounds that are in north-eastern parts of Markham, a city that is, in turn, north-east of the central parts of Toronto but is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). So I failed to find out the missing score and failed to see a game between two likely contenders for this year’s YRAA championship.
Playoff Spots to be Determined
The “form-book” would expect Maple HS to have won the game with Bur Oak earlier this month and would similarly expect Maple to beat Bill Crothers on Monday. But one or two individual performances can transform these school matches. Maple HS has included some promising batters and bowlers in the last two seasons, some of whom may still be in the school squad while others could have gained from developing alongside useful players.
Monday’s game between Maple HS and Bill Crothers SS emerges as an important game. Possibly three schools may end the day – assuming the weather cooperates – with records of 1 win and 3 losses (if Bur Oak lost to Maple earlier this month) but, perhaps, three schools could end the day with 2 wins (if Bur Oak had beaten Maple earlier in October).
So much to discover on Monday with the semi-finals involving four of these five schools to follow on Wednesday morning (10am) at McCowan Reservoir, Markham and the grand final on Wednesday afternoon.
Canada is currently playing in the Cricket West Indies Regional Super-50 in Trinidad and Tobago. The schools have produced many world class and highly useful cricketers over the years in Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the Canadian squad have developed through a mix of schools and junior cricket in Canada, such as Salman Nazar. Some, such as Nitish Kumar and Nikhil Dutta, then followed educational and/or cricketing experience paths beyond Canada.
One of Cricket Canada’s goals is to see the development of more players through the domestic cricket scene which would require more resources to emerge (funds, facilities and qualified people) in support of junior cricket, which includes school cricket. There did seem to be some gaps in the ability of some provinces and the national body to properly support and develop junior cricket during the provincial reports phase of the last Cricket Canada Annual General Meeting. Funding deficiencies even emerged in the selection of the Canada Under-19 squad for this summer’s Cricket West Indies Regional Under-19 One-Day Championship. Various parents and/or players assisted in paying to play for the Canada squad, which was far from impressive in my opinion. A topics that warrant further consideration on a different day but, also as a passing comment for now, the development of women’s cricket is also on the Cricket Canada development priority list.
Some of the school teams in the Greater Toronto Area have included one or more female players in recent years. The first two Toronto Catholic District School Board Spring Cricket tournaments (2017 & 2018) teams included a mix of male and female players. Four young players from Canada took part in a women’s T20 tournament at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, which is on the island of Trinidad, this summer. Representative secondary school teams, male and female, visited the Greater Toronto Area this summer. It is ten years since a Canada women’s team visited T&T for a series of games almost before the outdoor season had begun anywhere across Canada. The ICC issued some official women’s cricket standings for T20 and ODI games earlier today. Canada does not feature in the list of ten teams in the women’s ODI standings and does not even register with no ranking points in the list of 46 women’s T20 teams.
In the much talked about expansion of cricket in Canada, there has been a reduction in the number of participating schools in this year’s YRAA Varsity Boys Cricket Championship compared with recent years. Let’s hope for good weather next week for the players, teachers and umpires plus whoever turns out to support each school in the playoffs.
The sponsors of the ICC Women’s standings (MRF) make tyres ( or ‘tires’ in the alternative spelling). In the absence of some kind of suitable design or structure of a frame with wheels (and some kind of engine) there would not be much demand for tyres for bicycles and motor vehicles. The school cricket world in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) could do with greater support from those on various cricket boards, including help from people who ought to be employed to help drive the development of cricket in one of the most populous areas of Canada.
I wonder what became of the five region model for cricket across Canada that was used for at least one national men’s tournament in the last ten years? But cricket in Canada seems to struggle with some squabbles within some provinces before you reach the potentially higher ground of inter-provincial cooperation and development. The Parks and Recreation Master Plan for the “Flower City” – Brampton, Ontario – that was approved by council in the summer of 2017 after a consultation process from stakeholders that began during 2015 made me wonder about the depth of requests from the cricket community. At least one of the Mayoral candidates for Brampton in this month’s elections came out with a wish for the development of a stadium that could host international cricket and other sports. Field hockey (to distinguish the sport from “ice hockey” as “hockey”) was mentioned as a sport that could be played at this new stadium. But international field hockey is now played on artificial turf, as seen when Brampton hosted a Pan-Am field hockey tournament on a nice field at Cassie Campbell Park a few years ago.
The Brampton Parks and Recreation Master Plan includes the conversion of natural grass fields around what is currently known as the Brampton Soccer Centre to artificial grass and the re-naming of the Centre as a sports centre. The introduction of artificial grass and a dome to cover some of the grounds in winter might take some existing cricket pitches out of summer use, but it may provide a useful indoor facility where Canadian cricket teams might be able to practice during the off-season before important tournaments in warmer venues than the GTA.
The first YRAA school cricket tournament I saw took place at a new ground in southern Markham near the border with the Scarborough part of the amalgamated City of Toronto. The ground was developed on land within a designated conservation area. Someone, who at that time seemed to have a formal role with one local cricket league, said or asked why the ground was not developed with a natural grass wicket.
I doubt I said anything in reply as my thoughts would have been “what part did your league play in the development of this ground?” A separate, related thought would have been about the cost and potential value of the land used to create the cricket playing area.
I wonder if any scoreboard has been installed for either of the two cricket grounds at McCowan Reservoir? Alternatively, perhaps someone from a local league or who is part of the local cricket community has bought some portable scoreboards could be used during important games, such as schools cricket playoffs? In reality the existence of reasonable scoring records is a key priority in being able to produce reasonable reports about the outcome of important games on cricket’s development trail in Canada. An “unknown” player may be scoring runs or taking wickets or doing both below cricket’s radar screen who might, given the opportunity, be able to compete on the international stage in the near future.
Last year I missed the YRAA Final as the game was moved forward by one day as rain was due to dominate the original date for that final. I was aware a change might take place and almost opted to test the dryness (rather than the waters) one day early. So hope and pray for good weather next week but the sun shone and it was warm in one recent final that did not take place until early November due to too much rain. Situations that require commitment on and off the field with the key people being those who organize, play, umpire and record the scores for these games and tournaments.