Canadian cricket content in a selection from recent issues in the wide world of Canadian and Greater Toronto Area (GTA) ethnic media print media includes the upcoming RBC/CIMA Mayor’s Cricket Across the Pond UK tour, the schedule for August’s Niagara Cricket Festival and plans to build the world’s first purpose-built covered cricket stadium in the Toronto area.
Coverage of the RBC CIMA Mayor’s XI generally includes a photo of the tour party from the official launch of the team in Toronto, the players looking neat in their jackets, pants, shirts and ties generously supplied by Tom’s Place. Some newspapers provide background about the Cricket Across the Pond program that began from the developing relationship between Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation with the Canadian arm of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). RBC, the Royal Bank of Canada, provides lead sponsorship and, as mentioned, those chosen for the tour look like a team of cricketing ambassadors in the clothing provided by Tom’s Place.
Zaeem Sagri of Brampton’s Louise Arbour Secondary School expressed his thanks to RBC and CIMA for the opportunity to be part of the 2014 tour in the coverage by South Arisn Focus (July 10, 2014). Sagri played for Ontario Under-17 Greens in the recent national championship Under-17 Canada Cup at Centennial Park, Etobicoke.
Martin Saxton, the current Chair of CIMA Canada is quoted in The Weekly Voice (July 12, 2014) as having said at the official launch; “We at CIMA are thrilled to be organizing the Cricket Across the Pond scholarships for the seventh year. The program is a wonderful opportunity for young cricketers from the GTA, and we greatly appreciate the participation of our sponsors, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Tom’s Place, and the City of Toronto who make this possible.”
A picture of the tour party and some dignitaries attending the July 3 launch in Toronto is included in Asian Connections (July 11, 204), as well as in Desi Express (July 10, 2014), which provides background about the tour and names the touring party and their school and university affiliations.
India Journal provided an interesting twist with the headline “Should cricket make an appearance at the Pan Am Games?” that are to be staged in the Toronto Area in 2015. Cricket had been initially listed as an exhibition sport at these games, but the slow response by those elected to the helm of Canada’s cricketing governing body resulted in cricket disappearing from the agenda. The opportunity for Canada to turn an initial opportunity to host an ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup similarly dissolved due to slow reactions by those at the helm of Canadian cricket.
The name of the governing body was changed from the “Canadian Cricket Association” to “Cricket Canada” over the period between the opportunity being placed in Canadian hands during April or May 2006 to host an Under-19 Cricket World Cup and the date when failure to act saw the opportunity dissolve. Meanwhile the number of young cricketers across the country has expanded and the need for more cricket grounds has arisen with a particular need for grounds of a quality to allow talented players to progress to the international arena.
National cricket sponsorship from Scotiabank emerged in 2008 but had floundered by the end of 2009, and it seems CIBC’s sponsorship of the National Cricket League that began in 2013 has similarly been lost, as recently reported in “Share”. An article for which a link was provided on Canada Cricket Online.
India Journal indicates CIMA’s Ranil Mendis is to see if a cricket demonstration can be arranged within the context of next year’s Pan Am Games. India Journal envisages the Pan Am Games as a potential stepping stone to cricket making a return to the Olympic Games, where Britain and France competed in 1900. The story in India Journal includes a photo of Toronto Mayor bowling at one of the annual CIMA Celebration of Cricket promotions at Sunnybrook Park, under the watchful eye of two of the Aussie-X team who have introduced cricket to several schools in the GTA in recent years.
India Journal’s July 11, 2004 front page carried the headline “$700M cricket stadium may be coming to GTA”. A story that, in a way, links to the 2005 Annual General Meeting of the then Canadian Cricket Association where plans for a stadium to be built at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City, Ontario were presented by an architect.
The South Asian Observer (July 11, 2014) also carried the story about the “GTA Getting Ready for $700M Cricket Stadium” that stemmed from a press release. The new ground is envisaged as the home for the Canadian Premier League T20. The new league plans to launch next year, according to the South Asian Observer report, with “10 teams playing a 45-game season, plus playoffs. Each team will be made up of eight Canadians and three international players.”
A reminder is given at the end of the South Asian Observer article that “In 2012, Cricket Canada made a pitch to build a 10,000 seat stadium on the Toronto Islands but the idea was quickly shot down.”
Caribbean Times International (July 10, 2014) tells how “Guyanese cricketers continue to dominate OSCL competition”, the OSCL being the Ontario Softball Cricket League. A previous issue included the views of some Canadian international cricketers of Guyanese origins about this years Caribbean T20 championships.
The July 8, 2014 edition of South Asian Midweek News Weekly included the schedule for the Niagara Cricket Festival that includes eight teams split into two qualifying groups and is due to take place between August 14 and 17, 2014. Group A comprises Smart Choice, Somerset CC, Indian Cricket Academy and Canada Wild Card. Group B has US All-Stars, Midwest CC, Bangladesh Tigers and Connecticut Blizzards. The top two from each group play in semi-finals at 9am on August 17, with the Final following at 1pm.
A look back down memory lane indicates the SkyDome, now the Rogers Centre, was originally expected to cost $150 million, but cost considerably more (part of the difference being due to the inclusion of a hotel). It did host the largest crowd for a cricket match in the Americas in November 1989, although significantly lower crowds turned out for three subsequent games under similar organization over the following three years. Some of the depth supporting the promotion of the original game was lost after the game in the first year of the SkyDome’s operation.
Sadly, there did not seem to be any coverage of the national Under-17 Canada Cup in the newspapers I reviewed on Monday (July 14, 2014), which include several other publications with no specific Canadian cricket content in the current editions.
Eddie Norfolk