Companies worldwide sign up as official travel agents for ICC CWC 2007 -- Posted Saturday, April 29 2006
A total of 20 travel agencies from 11 countries across the globe - including two Host Venues - are in the first batch of Official Travel Agents (OTAs) approved to sell Tour & Travel packages, inclusive of match tickets, for ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.
Commercial Manager for ICC Cricket World Cup, Stephen Price, listed Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom and the USA as the countries in which OTAs have been appointed to date, stressing that more will come on stream as contracts are finalised.
"ICC Cricket World Cup and our Official Tour Operator, Cricket Logistics 2007, are pleased to announce that the Official Travel Agent (OTA) appointment process is well underway and these companies are the first on board as OTAs," he said, advising fans to avoid entities which are purporting to be OTAs or ticket agents but which are not on the official list.
Cricket Logistics 2007 Director John Davison was equally happy to welcome the OTAs to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 family, stating his satisfaction with the method of choosing OTAs.
"We have had an unprecedented number of applications from across the world and, after very careful selection criteria, these agents have been appointed. They are the sole persons or organisations who are authorised to offer Tour & Travel packages for the tournament for sale and fans should only purchase packages from them. Additional OTAs will be appointed in the future as contractual arrangements are signed and sealed.
"We are delighted that we now have OTAs confirmed around the world and look forward to working with them to ensure that next year's tournament is a truly global event," said Davison.
Price disclosed that more OTAs could be appointed in countries already on the list as well as in others not yet on the list, including the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and several Caribbean islands. The full list of approved OTAs will be displayed on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 and Cricket Logistics websites (www.cricketworldcup.com and www.cricketlogistics.com ) as soon as they are finalised in the next few weeks.
THE LIST OF 20 OFFICIAL TRAVEL AGENTS
AUSTRALIA
Australian Sports Tours
Caribbean Destinations
Fanatics
BARBADOS
St James Tours and Travel
BERMUDA
C Travel Co Ltd
Meyer Franklin
CANADA
Tourcan Vacations
INDIA
Friends Globe
JAMAICA
Travel Unlimited
NEW ZEALAND
Warwick Beatson
Williment Travel
SOUTH AFRICA
Edusport Travel
Executive and Sport Travel
SRI LANKA
George Stuarts
UNITED KINGDOM
Best at Travel / Sporting Journeys
Gullivers Sports Travel
ITC Sports
Taj Tours and Travel
The Cricket Tour Company
UNITED STATES
Citi-World Travelmart
Material sourced from ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Media Release
ICC's dramatic increase in ODI cricket for Associate Members, including Canada -- Posted Friday, April 28 2006
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced a dramatic increase in the programme of One-Day International (ODI) cricket for the six Associate Member countries that will participate in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007.
The six sides - Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, The Netherlands and Scotland - are expected to play at least 64 ODI matches before the ICC Cricket World Cup begins in March 2007, including scheduled matches against Full Member countries.
ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said that the new programme was an essential step in the development of the sport in these countries.
"The ICC is delighted to be able to announce such a dramatic increase in the number of ODI matches to be played by these Associate Member countries," said Mr Speed. "It is essential that their top players are exposed to regular competitive international cricket if they are to continue to develop and this is a very significant step in the right direction."
The schedule will begin with five ODIs for Kenya in Zimbabwe from 25 February and all six countries will have tasted ODI action before the end of June this year. The pre-World Cup schedule includes home matches for Ireland against England; Scotland versus Pakistan and The Netherlands v Sri Lanka.
In addition, all six associate members will contest the inaugural ICC World Cricket League Division One tournament in Kenya in January 2007.
ICC Global Development Manager, Matthew Kennedy, said that the schedule demonstrated the commitment of the international cricket community to the development of the game. "This is a very exciting time for the development of cricket beyond its traditional boundaries," said Mr Kennedy.
"To have in place a regular schedule of ODI cricket for these six countries is a major achievement for the sport and I would like to thank the Full Members for their support of the developing nations in this initiative.
"These matches will complement the highly-successful first class competition, the ICC Intercontinental Cup, to provide a comprehensive and challenging international calendar for the top Associate Member countries."
One of the aims of the ODI schedule is to provide, on average, a home and away cricket event against Full Member opposition for Kenya and Scotland on an annual basis and at least one home or away event against a Full Member for the other four nations in the same timeframe.
The schedule will see seven Full Member countries hosting or participating in matches involving Associate Members before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 while other countries have indicated their commitment to post-World Cup involvement.
Mr Speed added that this Associate Member scheduling had been developed alongside ongoing negotiations regarding the ICC Future Tours Program. "These arrangements have been made within the wider context of the ICC Future Tours Program negotiations that are currently addressing a potential move from a five-year cycle to six-years.
"In scheduling these matches, all parties have been very conscious of ensuring that they should not have a negative impact on the workload of players from the Full Member countries."
The scheduling of Associate Member cricket is part of ICC Global Development Program's High Performance Program which has committed $US 500,000 of funding to each of these six countries through to 2009.
Editorial Comment: The funding would appear to be US$125,000 per year. Will that cover the travel costs, accommodation costs, and hosting cost in Canada?
"Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie" (Kipling).
I am asking the Question!! (Jon Harris).
Material sourced from:-
http://www.icc-cricket.com/icc-news/content/story/238495.html
CCA appoint Marketing and Communications Manager -- Posted Thursday, April 27 2006
"CCA press release
The Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Eddie Norfolk as Marketing and Communications Manager. Eddie has a wide range of management and business experience, in addition to sports writing and sports organizational skills. He is a cricket lover from Essex, England, who has been in Toronto since 1989. He hopes to promote the growth of cricket in Canada in his new position.
Profile
Eddie Norfolk was employed for over 25 years by one of Canada’s leading financial organizations in London (England) and, from 1989, Toronto. He held various management positions and has experience in business operations, computer systems and auditing.
His wide range of sporting interests includes a passion for cricket, rekindled during the 2001 ICC Trophy that the CCA hosted. He hopes to promote the growth of cricket in Canada in his new role and notes the highest cricketing crowd of his life was at the SkyDome (over 40,000) for the first United Way game: more than Lords' capacity for major matches.
Away from his main occupation, he wrote extensively for a British ice hockey magazine over a number of years and returned to the sports writing arena in 2005 on Canadian cricket. He gained sports organizational skills in the activities involving the Football (soccer) Provincial Supporters Club movement in London, England.
E-mail Contact
Eddie can be reached at: eddiencca@yahoo.ca"
This release was issued at the public forum "Cricket: Reality, Respect, Reward'
helid in Tornot on April 27.
Former West Indies captain, Richie Richardson was keynote speaker for the hosting Government of Antigua and Barbuda. Richardson opened the batting, and was followed by Sanjay Tareja, lecturer/filmmaker whose NFB-backed film "Cricket and the Meaning of Life'" was(previously reviewed on Canada.Cricket.com. The innings closed with the CCA team of Calvin Clarke (General Secretary), Andy Pick (new National Coach) and Eddie Norfolk (the newly named 'Marketing and Communications Manager'. Moderator Errol Townsend (President Ontario Cricket Association) had a quiet time umpiring. After the Q&A session ended, Andy and Eddie were seen in friendly conversation with Fitzroy Gordon, the cricket correspondent of the SCORE, the FAN and CHIN Radio. Fitz interviewed Richie Richardson for The SCORE earlier in the day and was heard talking with Richie on CHIN RADIO on 'Caribbean Connection' to close the day.
Cricket on TV in Canada? -- Posted Wednesday, April 26 2006
Sourced from:-
http://www.ecb.co.uk/search.html?q=Canada
"Having just moved to Canada, I was wondering who (if anyone) has the broadcasting rights in North America? In other words, will I be able to view the Ashes this summer from Canada? Regards Matthew Goff"
Hello Matthew. Hope you're settling in in Canada okay. Yes, the matches will be available over there - Setanta has the TV and internet rights, and you can find the latter here
"I've just returned to my native Canada after living in the UK for seven years and have become a huge cricket fan. Do you know how I can watch England Test matches from Canada or what television provider in Canada has the rights to televise England Test matches?"
The current rights deal has now expired. Nothing confirmed for North American market moving forward as yet. But there is likely to be a rights deal done to provide coverage...
"Hello. You have recently communicated that North American broadcast rights for the Ashes are owned by Setanta.tv, however they informed me they are not showing it. Does the ECB have any clarifying info, as I am in Canada and cannot find any details on any sport channel. Regards Matt, Toronto."
Have checked internally - and understand that Setanta have sublicensed the rights to Direct TV
Material sourced from:-
http://www.ecb.co.uk/search.html?q=Canada
Cricket has a good chance of developing into an industry (opinion) -- Posted Wednesday, April 26 2006
First off all, let me say that there is nothing wrong with the structure of Intercontinental cup. In fact, its a good one, perhaps barring the fact that the Bermuda/Canada/Netherlands games are taking place in South Africa, whereas I would have liked these games to take place IN one of these countries so that their population could get an oppurtunity to see their teams and enjoy what are likely to be close games, and not drubbings that test teams hand out to them. It would also have meant some money for these cricket associations. In any case, I think the reason why they are in South Africa is because Netherlands refused to play the game in the summers, because their players are mostly not available (Ten Doeshte and Zuiderant play in county county, and I think Van Bunge and Tim De Leede also play in some English clubs). So the only time left to schedule these games was Nov-Dec, and during that time NONE of the three associates (Canada/ Netherlands or Bermuda) can host the games because of winters.
Anyway, back to point.
What I think should happen is, that the total number of teams in the intercontinental should be increased from the current 8 to 10. Incorporate both Nepal and Namibia, and the final spot can be given to Denmark. The rest is the same. As far as the games are concerned, the 4 non ODI countries should be given the limited overs matches against the ODI teams just like they are given between themselves. They wont count as ODIs, but only as limited over games (like UAE is currently doing, and will also be having a triangular with Ireland and Scotland early next year).
Lets face it, currently, cricket has a good chance of developing into an industry only in these coutries for the next 5-6 years.
Of course that would mean more cricket tours for the associates. I am not sure if the league system that ICC is going to start off for the Intercontinental Cup from 2007 onwards is going to span over 1 or 2 years. If it is 2 years, then these 2 extra teams can easily be incorporated. If its just one year, then I think the schedule would be cramped up a little bit. But hey, if it is a move to make the players in these countries professionals, then in a way it is good because once you become pro, you need a lot of games, and the associations need a lot of home games to be able to at least try and make some money to sustain the professionalism. So this may not be a bad move.
As such I dont think a second division of Intercontinental cup is needed at the momment, becuase there are not many other countries which are at this level. Maybe in 5-6 years time, there will be and then something can be thought of interms of making a second division.
My only concern is that Denmark and Nepal will possibly be left behind NOW when they are showing potential. If you wait for 5 years and then start something to incorporate them, it may be equivalent to missing the bus.
In all of this, I think Uganda gets the tough end of the stick. They have the numbers and the interest, even in their domestic games. But the point is that Denmark IS a better team than them, which was proven last year in the ICC trophy when Denmark beat them. Plus it needs to be an intercontinental cup, not an African cup.
This opinion article was sourced from:-
http://nasirkhan.wordpress.com/2006/02/24/incorporating-nepal-an-denmark/
Six new countries enter the fray of the expanding one-day world -- Posted Tuesday, April 25 2006
Question posed to Matthew Kennedy, the ICC's Global Development Manager, about the six countries who will be able to play full ODIs from January 1 and the effect this will have on the international game
Aside from the $500,000 over four years, what else is the ICC doing to help bridge the gap between Full Members and Associates?
It is worth highlighting that the $500,000 to each of six teams for CWC 2007 is a major progression from $125,000 to each of just four teams for CWC 2003. This is a very significant new investment by the ICC in the developing cricket world which has enabled us to pursue initiatives such as this schedule of Full member ODIs for the best Associates. Combined with further funding and support under the ICC High Performance Program headed up by Richard Done, the ICC also assists the leading Associates in various other ways. These include, but are not limited to:- Initiatives such as the ICC Winter Training Camp which is a starting point in developing "professionalism" in preparation and approach. The intention is to do this again next year prior. When the ICC Global Cricket Academy opens in late-2007 this will bring related benefits and opportunities in this regard.
The recent provision - since ICC Trophy 2005 - of match, team and player analysis capability / software to enable the HPP countries to better analyse their own performances and to plan strategies against other countries
Assistance with quality National Coach appointments - processes and funding.
Supporting opportunities for individual players to develop their game with expert assistance and placements within Test nations (e.g. current support for Kennedy Otieno and Collins Obuya from Kenya with Terry Jenner and Rod Marsh in Australia). We are looking to arrange similar placement opportunities for leading coaches as this could be very beneficial.
Improving ICC competitions - World Cricket League Division 1 and Intercontinental Cup development and enhancement
High Performance Manger visits, coaching seminars, etc.
HPP country meetings and co-ordinated planning and scheduling sessions, etc.
National Cricket Body access to offers of governance, administration and commercial advice and guidance from ICC, as appropriate.
Umpiring initiatives for the best from the developing cricket world, in turn improving domestic activities in this regard.
Read the full article at:-
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/other/content/story/231520.html
Excerpt from Canada Gazette re: cricket on television -- Posted Monday, April 24 2006
2006-121 April 4, 2006
Asian Television Network International Limited Across Canada
Approved — New national, English-language Category 2 pay television programming undertaking to be known as ATN – Cricket Channel I.
The licence will expire August 31, 2012.
2006-122 April 4, 2006
Asian Television Network International Limited Across Canada
Approved — New national, English-language Category 2 pay television programming undertaking to be known as ATN – Cricket Channel II.
The licence will expire August 31, 2012.
Material sourced from:-
canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/ 2006/20060415/html/commis-e.html
OTTAWA (CP) - New specialty TV channels dedicated to soccer, cricket and equestrian events have been approved by the CRTC, the federal broadcast regulator.
They include Soccer Television and RCS Television, both proposed by the Telelatino Network (TLN). The first would provide coverage of professional and amateur soccer matches as well as documentaries and news programs devoted to the sport. The second would be devoted to soccer, cricket and rugby.
Olympic Films won licences for both an English and French language version of Equestrian Planet, programming from the horse world including racing.
Asian Television Network International received licences for ATN, the Asian Sports Network and ATN Cricket Channels I and II, pay services that would provide coverage of live cricket matches from around the world.
Cookie Jar Entertainment, a producer of children's television programming, was granted a licence for Cookie Jar Educational TV, which would include core curriculum educational programming in such areas as language, math, science and technology. The application had been opposed by Corus Entertainment, owner of the preschooler channel Treehouse TV and part owner of Teletoon. A French-language equivalent was also granted.
All the licences are for a category 2 service, which means cable and satellite providers are not obliged to provide carriage. Licence holders and carriers must negotiate an agreement before a channel is carried.
Material sourced from:-http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=2824b482-4673-4da6-8716-1437ac630782&k=14863
An incident at the Toronto Cricket Club in 1997 -- Posted Sunday, April 23 2006
Martin Williamson, the managing editor of Cricinfo, has written a review of an incident at the Toronto Cricket Club in 1997.
"In this era of match referees and all-invasive TV coverage, player behaviour has generally improved, even allowing for the occasional over-the-top sledge and tantrum. But in Toronto in 1997, Inzamam-ul-Haq was guilty of an offence which, were it to happen today, would almost certainly have seen him banned for a very long time."
The full story can be read at:-
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/245024.html
Share interview with one of Canada's selectors -- Posted Saturday, April 22 2006
One of Canada's national cricket selectors is concerned that the national team may be undercooked for its mid-May tri-series against Bermuda and Zimbabwe in Trinidad.
In an interview with Ron Fanfair of the weekly Share newspaper, the selector from Ontario Errol Townshend said he believes the 14-man squad announced last week is quite capable of defeating Bermuda and Zimbabwe. He's however
concerned about the team's lack of preparation.
"We retained the core of the squad that helped us qualify for the World Cup", he said. "There is concern however with respect to the lack of preparation. We did not have a coach for the entire winter and no substitute was put in place. In addition, no practice matches have been planned prior to the team's departure. If that situation is not rectified, it will be a huge challenge for this team to be successful because the majority of the players have not played outdoor cricket since September."
Share are currently having dificulties with their web site. (JH)
Canada Day, (known then as Dominion Day), celebrated on July 1st, 1867 -- Posted Wednesday, April 19 2006
What does Canada Day mean to you? If you're like many other Canadians, chances are it means a holiday spent outdoors, in the company of others. Perhaps you pack a picnic lunch or take part in a sporting event. In many places, the day ends with a fireworks display.
Things haven't changed much from that first Canada Day, known then as Dominion Day, celebrated on July 1st, 1867. We know from records of the event, that "the day dawned fair and warm, with a clear, cobalt-blue sky, and a little breeze that took the hottest edge off the bright sun."
Canadians in Saint John, New Brunswick were roused from their sleep by a 21-gun salute at 4:00 in the morning. The people of Kingston, Ontario received their wake-up call at 6:00 a.m., when guns were fired from Fort Henry. Citizens of Dartmouth and Halifax, Nova Scotia were allowed to sleep until 8:00 when the Volunteer Artillery of Halifax fired their guns and were answered by the naval brigade on the Dartmouth side of the harbour. In Quebec, churchgoers attended a High Mass at 8:00 a.m. in the cathedral at Trois-Rivières.
By mid-morning, Victoria Square and Place d'Armes in Montréal were filling up with people waiting to hear the Royal Proclamation. They were in good company. People all over the country were also waiting -- in market squares, parks and parade grounds. They had come to hear the official words read: "...dated at Windsor Castle on the 22nd day of May, in the year of Our Lord 1867, Her Most Gracious Majesty did ordain, declare, and command, that on and after the 1st day of July, 1867, the Provinces of Canada [Ontario and Quebec], Nova Scotia and New Brunswick should form and be one Dominion under the name of Canada;..."
Once the Proclamation had been read, informal celebrations such as parades, sports, games and picnics began. At Trois-Rivières, a cricket match was in full swing. Cricket was played in Kingston too (while on-lookers listened to the Royal Canadian Rifles band, who played all afternoon at the cricket grounds.)
There were sailing and sculling races at Barrie, Ontario along with the hilarious "greasy pole" event, in which contestants were encouraged to walk along a slippery 30-foot pole to snatch a flag at the end -- without slipping off into the waters of Kempenfelt Bay!
Spectators in Dunville, in the Niagara peninsula, watched harness racing on a brand-new race course while being serenaded by the Dunville and Wellandport brass bands.
There were simple celebrations as well. In many small villages and towns, there were no bands, racetracks or regattas, but people came together to celebrate nonetheless. Farming families gathered at fairgrounds and picnic spots, sometimes in a field or meadow.
As nightfall came, elaborate preparations were underway in the cities. In Queen's Park, Toronto, trees were hung with hundreds of Chinese paper lanterns, casting a festive glow. People eagerly awaited a fireworks display.
Over the years, such celebrations not only continued, but flourished. In 1876, at Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, winners of events such as sailing and canoe races, high jump and long jump and many different running races competed for prize money. The person who tossed the caber farthest received $5.00, as did the winner of the potato race. The fastest boy on stilts went home $2.50 richer. Those who didn't mind getting wet walked the bowsprit for a whopping $15.00, rode the log for $7.50 and entered the tub race for a chance to win $5.00.
The 1878 Grand Rowing Regatta in Guelph, Ontario had an interesting selection of activities. A blindfolded wheelbarrow race, offering a $2.00 prize, must have been a sight to see. There was a parade through the town's main streets to the Exhibition Grounds, that featured prizes for the "best-dressed", "worst-dressed", "most ridiculously dressed" and the "best group in a carriage". There was a baseball match between the renowned "Stars" of Syracuse, New York and Guelph's own "Maple Leafs". The day was capped with an evening Torchlight Procession through the town's streets, followed by a "Magnificent display of Fire-works on the Square", culminating in a "Monster Bonfire".
Bayfield, Ontario's 1894 Dominion Day Tournament had something for everyone. Along with the sack race, three-legged race and wheelbarrow race, there were donkey races, pony races, dog races in harness, horse running and horse trotting, bicycle races and an obstacle race. If you were male and 55 years of age or older, you could enter the "Old Men's Race" and win $1.25. The $6.00 given for a first-place win in the Sawing Match and the $10.00 offered for the one-mile Horse Trotting race seems to indicate these were the events deemed most popular.
The 1899 Dominion Day celebrations in Saint John, New Brunswick had a truly ambitious program of events. They included both the customary rowing and canoeing races, as well as the not-so-usual. The Water Derby event called for contestants to paddle 100 yards on barrels. The Novelty Race allowed participants to use anything except a boat or canoe to cover the mandatory 100 yards. There were Tilting Tournaments in canoes, the Tug of War (paddling in punts), and a 100-yard Crab Race, in which each contestant was required to kneel in the bow of a canoe and paddle forward.
Another undoubtedly popular event at the Saint John Regatta that afternoon in 1899, was a double-scull race in which the rowers were dressed as Beefeaters, Armoured Knights and Highlanders -- costumes pointing to the town's British roots. The evening brought a round of bicycle and field sports, illuminations and fireworks.
Souvenir programs were printed up ahead of time and the various sporting events were listed along with the prize money being offered for each event. A space was often provided for the program owner to record the name of the lucky winners.
Another type of Dominion Day souvenir was a booklet of black-and-white photographs, like the one issued in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1915, "in aid of War Relief and Charity". The cost of a single copy was 15 cents. From the photographs found in this particular booklet, it is evident that community groups played a vital role in Canada Day celebrations. Firemen, girl guides, the Humane Society, The Children's Shelter, the Orphans' Home, the Patriotic League, Martin Electric Co. and Walker's East End Drug Store participated in the parade that contained cars and horse-pulled wagons, heavily decorated with flowers.
The celebrations in Langley Prairie, British Columbia in 1917 were much more child-focused. There was a morning parade of school floats and a baseball game. By 1:30 parents were congregating to cheer on their children in the sporting events. A motion picture was offered from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., followed by a vaudeville show featuring songs, musical pieces and a comedy farce in the evening. A "Grand Ball" for the adults, starting at 10:00 p.m. crowned the day's events.
Whether young or old, now or then, people have come together to celebrate our country's anniversary. It may be a simple picnic in a quiet spot, or a more organized series of events, topped off with a spectacular fireworks display. Whatever the choice, Canadians continue the tradition set that first Canada Day -- celebrating our country's anniversary to the fullest.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation -- Posted Wednesday, April 19 2006
Woodstock Cricket Club has been granted $45,000 over one year to renovate the clubhouse and make it fully accessible, and purchase equipment, helping to increase membership and promote physical activity through the sport of cricket. (JH)
The Hat Trick -- Posted Wednesday, April 19 2006
The cricket term hat trick appeared first in British print in 1858. It refers to one bowler taking three wickets with three balls in a row. That player was then permitted to pass around his hat and collect a few modest tributes to his finesse in the form of British pennies.
So runs one story. Another says the cricket club bought the hat-tricking player a new hat. There is a Canadian elaboration of this origin.
In baseball a pitcher might strike out three batters in a row, or a batter score three home runs in one game. Three goals in one soccer game is also a hat trick. But the British sporting term was borrowed and became most popular in North American hockey. If a player scores three successive goals in a row, that is perhaps hockey's most impressive hat trick.
A hat trick may also consist of three goals scored by one player any time in one game, even if other players score goals between the hat-tricker's goals. Today fans often toss their hats onto the ice or into the air to celebrate the achievement, although the price of monogrammed tractor caps is making even this modest whoop-up problematical.
Material sourced from:-
http://www.billcasselman.com/questions_and_answers/q_and_a.htm
CRTC approves new TV channels for cricket -- Posted Saturday, April 15 2006
New specialty TV channels dedicated to soccer, cricket and equestrian events have been approved by the CRTC, the federal broadcast regulator.
They include Soccer Television and RCS Television, both proposed by the Telelatino Network (TLN). The first would provide coverage of professional and amateur soccer matches as well as documentaries and news programs devoted to the sport. The second would be devoted to soccer, cricket and rugby.
Olympic Films won licences for both an English and French language version of Equestrian Planet, programming from the horse world including racing.
Asian Television Network International received licences for ATN, the Asian Sports Network and ATN Cricket Channels I and II, pay services that would provide coverage of live cricket matches from around the world.
Cookie Jar Entertainment, a producer of children's television programming, was granted a licence for Cookie Jar Educational TV, which would include core curriculum educational programming in such areas as language, math, science and technology. The application had been opposed by Corus Entertainment, owner of the preschooler channel Treehouse TV and part owner of Teletoon. A French-language equivalent was also granted.
All the licences are for a category 2 service, which means cable and satellite providers are not obliged to provide carriage. Licence holders and carriers must negotiate an agreement before a channel is carried.
Material sourced from:-
http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=2824b482-4673-4da6-8716-1437ac630782&k=14863
Profile of Quebec cricketer in the Canada team to play in Trinidad -- Posted Friday, April 14 2006
Qaiser Ali is a 28 vear old right handed middle-order batsman and right-arm off-spin bowler.
He played for Pakistan U19's National Championship 1994-1996 (captain in 1995-1996) vs England "A" and Holland U-23's in 1996, ang also competed in the Wills One Day National Cup and Wills Patrons Trophy.
Qaiser immigrated to Canada in Feb. 2000, and is now a Canadian citizen.
He played with a combined Quebec/Ottawa versus MCC in 2000, and made his debut for Canada in 2005 playing in both ICC Intercontinental Cup matches (vs Bermuda and the Cayman Islands) and against the MCC in September 2005.
Qaiser has been the Captain of Adastrians C.C.- League champions for the past two seasons as well as captain of the Quebec Provincial teams over the same period.
Quebec's cricketer of the year for 2004 - scoring 663 runs in 12 innings, 2 not outs, with a highest score of 103 not out. Bowling stats. 88 - 12 - 285 - 14.
2005 Stats. - Batting -11 inns.-2 not outs - 498 runs - Avg. 55.33, highest score 96, 10 catches.
Comments from Inter-Continental Cup-Toronto 2005
Set 230 for victory in 68 overs, Canada fell without resistance for a disappointing 181 in the 57th over. Codrington again batted sensibly for 40 while newcomer Qaiser Ali of Quebec top scored with a mature knock of 52.
The right-handed batsman and off-spinner, who attracted the attention of the national selectors with two half centuries in the inter-provincial championships, said he's happy to be in the Canadian team.
"I knew I had the ability to compete at this level," he said confidently. "All I wanted was the opportunity to show what I can do."
Coach Rupert Gomes commented, "I saw him for the first time in the nets prior to the Bermuda game and knew that he had to play.".
Comments from the High Performance camp in South Africa.
Qaiser Ali – Qaiser found the going tough when he first arrived because he was not in the best shape possible for a camp like this but, all credit to him, he has bought into the regime and has shown himself to be a real workaholic.
He is a batsman who bowls rather than a genuine all-rounder but what he has done since he has been here is to develop his seam bowling so that he is now a viable sixth or seventh bowler for his captain in a one-day game.
Qaiser arrived as an off-spinner but (bowling coach) Bob Cottam spotted something in him and asked him to try bowling medium pace, he agreed and has made great strides doing it, although he still has plenty of work to do on that front.
As a batsman he is keen to play his shots and what we are trying to do is ensure he is more selective in his strokeplay and not premeditate his shots before the bowler bowls. Also we are encouraging him to move his feet more, especially in getting a good stride in when he plays forward.
Material sourced from La Federation Quebecoise du Cricket Inc. (JH)
The Damian Mills Junior Cricket Award -- Posted Thursday, April 13 2006
The Damian Mills Junior Cricket Award is open to all junior cricketers between the ages of 15 and 21 years of age. To be eligible for the 2006 award the applicant must have been born between June 15, 1985 and June 15, 1991.
The applicant must meet the following criteria:
a. Must volunteer in the sport of cricket.
b. Must be a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant.
c. Must have demonstrated above average cricketing abilities.
The trustees would like to sincerely express their gratitude to all those who have contributed so generously to the Foundation. Your support is greatly appreciated.
The trustees are pleased to announce that as a direct result of your financial contributions we are set to give out the first official Damian Mills Junior Cricket Award in 2006, and this will continue on an annual basis.
The 3rd Annual Damian Mills Memorial Match will be played on Sunday, September 10, 2006 at Assiniboine Park Cricket Grounds.
All information and application forms are available from the website. (JH)
http://www.damianmillsaward.ca/index_files/Page316.htm
The Canadian Squad for the Tri-Series to be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad from May 17-21, 2006. -- Posted Wednesday, April 12 2006
After a successful 2005 ICC Trophy campaign these are the first ODIs for the Canadian team.
The BCMCL has two representatives with Salak batsman Haninder Dhillon retaining his place along with Meraloma left arm spinner Kevin Sandher; who was Canada's top bowler in Ireland.
Four players from the ICC Squad will not be travelling to Trinidad, top batsman Ian Billcliff is unavailable due to work commitments and Zubin Surkari, Iain Dixon and Pubudu Dassanayake have all been dropped. They are replaced by Ashish Bagai, who returns as wicket keeper, and two new players for Canada, both with first class experience, Stewart Heaney, an Australian raised Canadian, and Geoff Barnett a Kiwi who also holds a Canadian passport. Both are batsmen, Barnett will likely open and Heaney will bat in the middle order. Barnett may be seen in the BCMCL this summer as he is in negotiations with Meraloma CC for the upcoming season.
The tri series is an ICC sponsored event to prepare associate nations for the World Cup, Canada will play Bermuda and Zimbabwe in a round robin format with the winner being decided by a playoff between the first and second place teams. This tournament will be the first for new Canadian coach Andy Pick.
The Canadian Senior Team for the Tri Series Zimbabwe, Bermuda and Canada to be played in Port of Spain. Trinidad
May 17 – 21, 2006
1. John Davison (captain)
2. George Codrington (vice captain)
3. Geoffrey Barnett
4. Desmond Chumney
5. Donovan Maxwell
6. Haninder Dhillon
7. Stewart Heaney
8. Ashish Bagai
9. Qaiser Ali
10. Sunil Dhaniram
11. Sanjay Thuraisingham
12. Umar Bhatti
13. Kevin Sandher
14. Henry Osinde
Manager: Mike Henry
Coach: Andy Pick
Phsyio: Dan Kiesel
Material sourced from
http://www.bcmcl.org/
Vancouver League Season Preview -- Posted Wednesday, April 12 2006
The 2006 BCMCL season kicks off the last weekend in April and your insider is here to give you a sneak preview of the 2006 Premier Division season.
The Premier division remains a seven team loop with each team playing the others three times in the course of the season, once home, once away and once at Upper Brockton. Each match is fifty overs, played to ICC rules, and the season culminates in a playoff among the top four teams with the bottom team being relegated to the first division.
For those who need an early cricket hit, the Champions, Meraloma, will be playing a BCMCL President’s XI on April 22 at Upper Brockton.
My 2005 predictions were pretty accurate, Meraloma couldn’t manage a second undefeated season and they slipped to second place, but came through in the playoffs to post a second consecutive championship. The four playoff teams were as expected, PakCan, Meraloma, Richmond and Salak, but I called for Seattle to be relegated, and instead 2005 witnessed the final meltdown of a once proud North Shore side.
Let’s look at this year’s contenders and pretenders.
Windies C.C.
Home Ground: Mackin Park
Windies make a return to the Premier after a considerable absence. Their last stint at the top level ended with the team in disarray and the rebuilding job has taken quite some time. They are led, once again, by one time Canadian batsman Anthony Brown, who will bring his big hitting ways and seam bowling back to the Premier this year. As always, Brown will be a major threat, if he feels like it. Apart from the proven class of Brown and the tempestuous talents of Hussain Dawood, I expect this Windies team to struggle. Mark Williams is a promising player who will likely adapt well to the Premier, but three batsmen do not make a contending team. The bowling was solid in Division 1 with Nigel James, Amjad Afridi and Harsh Tewari all capturing 20 or more wickets, but there’s a considerable jump to the Premier and only James has any experience at the top level. Windies should be better than Seattle, and will therefore survive, but I expect the playoffs will be a long way off come the end of the season.
Surrey City C.C. (formerly Kitsilano)
Home Ground: Sullivan Heights
Kitsilano have transformed themselves into Surrey City C.C. and will play out of the new Sullivan Heights ground in Surrey. In their first season in the Premier Kitsilano had a decent season, winning 7 and losing 10 to finish in fifth place, well out of relegation trouble but shy of the playoffs. Wins over Richmond and Salim Akbar demonstrated their ability to mix it with the top of the table but, failures against the lesser sides meant that the playoffs were a distant dream. This season they are without standout all rounder Khurram Chohan, who’s 400 plus runs and 35 wickets were key to Kits’ season. Replacing him will be a tall order, and the rumour mill hasn’t come up with any names. Without reinforcements I expect the newly minted Surrey City to remain in fifth place or even slip back a place or two. In the 2005 campaign Shahzad Thakurdas made 400 plus runs and Akhtar Nawaz managed 20 plus wickets, it will be interesting to see if these two can take up the slack left by the departure of Chohan.
Seattle
Home Ground: Ron Regis Park (not that they actually play any BCMCL games there)
Last year, I predicted a fall to division one for the boys from the States. That prediction was foiled by an abysmal performance from North Shore, so I’m going out on a limb and marking the Yanks for the drop this year. Once again the boys from down I-5 will have an ever changing roster. 2005 saw two Kiwi imports playing for the Emerald City side, Michael Lowdnes who shared the bowling spotlight with Mike Sachar and Oliver Hodges who turned out to be a good enough keeper to win the wicket keeping trophy. These two are unlikely to be back and, once again, Seattle will find the runs hard to come by. Last season Sukhwinder Jhalli was the only batsman to average more than 20 in 10 or more innings. With lightweight batting and a threadbare bowling line up, it is hard to see who Seattle will beat this year.
PakCan C.C.
Home Ground: Crescent Beach
PakCan made the playoffs in fourth place last season, primarily because of the batting of Mohammed Asam Khan. Unfortunately for PakCan, Khan had to return to Pakistan before the playoffs and they lost in the first round. During the season PakCan plumbed the depths and scaled the heights. In June they were bowled out for 34 by Meraloma and in July managed to beat the same Meraloma side by a wicket. After their excellent debut season PakCan will have been disappointed with last year. Early on they lost two of their best batsmen when Shahzad Afzaal and Baber Sandhu defected to Salak and from then on the batsmen, with the exception of Khan, failed to fire. Bilal Khan had another successful season, including being named in the Canadian 40 man training squad, with the ball but the rest of the bowlers were less than impressive. Khan is rumoured not to be back this season, but Khurram Chohan has been reportedly lured from Surrey City to bolster both the batting and the bowling. With so much uncertainty around their line up it is difficult to predict where PakCan will end up, but I expect them to duke it out with Surrey City for that fourth and final playoff spot.
Salim Akbar C.C.
Home Ground: Memorial Park
I described this team as “schizophrenic” last year. They didn’t do anything to alter my opinion. They lost games they shouldn’t have, and won games I wouldn’t have bet money on them in, they finished first in the league, but lost in the Final. Co-GM Taslim Akbar has described this year’s line up as “weak”, well I’m not going to accept that at face value as I doubt whether Mr. Akbar even knows what his starting XI will be for this year. It is known that temperamental youngster Omar Nawaz has left, but his destination is unclear. David Manoj’s future is apparently up in the air, and Baber Sandhu has moved back to Edmonton. Co-GM Taj Mohammed has apparently tagged Mohammed Asam Khan of PakCan, who walked away with the batting trophy last season, as the new overseas player, but there are no reports of a signed contract. So who will be there? Haninder Dhillon is again in the Canadian squad and will likely miss a number of matches and rumour has it that Bilal Khan will be moving from PakCan, but no one really knows who else will be there apart from constants JJ Dawood, Qasim Dawood and Imran Khan. Despite the uncertainty there is undoubtedly sufficient talent for Salak to remain in the top four, it just depends on whether the wheeler dealers acquire enough top level talent to push them over the top.
Richmond
Home Ground: Minoru Park
Richmond slipped to third last year, even though they finally managed to beat the Meralomas, mainly because their batting was found wanting. Always a better batting side than a bowling one, the failure to score runs led inevitably to more losses than they would have liked. This year’s team looks similar, but with Vikram Bawa as captain. For a successful season Sajiv Fernando and Canadian U-19 batsman Hensen Fernandes will need to get back to their run scoring ways after abysmal 2005 campaigns. Channa Karunaratne can be relied upon for consistent run scoring and Bawa for the odd explosive innings, so the batting ought to be solid enough. On the bowling front much will rely on the development of young seamer Asad Khan, if he can develop into the strike bowler Richmond have been missing for the last few years then I expect Richmond to make a move to break the Salak-Meraloma playoff monopoly. If he can’t, and he is still young, then Richmond will stay put in third.
Meraloma C.C.
Home Ground: Connaught Park
The undefeated 2005 Champions had an up and down year. New skipper Steve Welsh was left scratching his head about some of his team’s performances as they regularly failed to play up to their potential. Yet they still managed to win the championship after a second place finish in the league. This year will be Welsh’s second as captain but the first without the iconic figure of Tassie Clippingdale, a fixture in the BCMCL for the last 10 years. Tassie has returned to Australia and won’t be seen purveying his unique lob swing in this year’s premiership. Last year’s top scorer, Ryan Pitts, has also departed but Andrew Downs has signed on for another year in Kitsilano. The bowling will once again be the team’s strength, with Downs and Steve Welsh, supported by Canadian left arm spinner Kevin Sandher and Kiwi left arm seamer Steve Dow. Management are in full recruitment mode and the rumour mill has former Canadian Under-19 seamer Simon Upton signing from North Shore. The batting was indifferent last season with only Jason Sandher and Pitts consistently making significant runs. The rumoured addition of Canadian squad member Geoff Barnett and a return to form for Iain Dixon would be welcomed as would a more consistent contribution from Dave McGowan. Undoubtedly the usual influx of Aussies will result in a couple more decent players to fill the holes in the Lomas line up. Holes which will likely be exacerbated by Canadian call ups for any of Welsh, Sandher, Sandher, Barnett or Dixon, all of whom are in the Canadian 40 man training squad. The Lomas are a lock for a playoff spot, whether they can return to their undefeated ways is another story.
Editorial note: Material received in a virtual brown envelope, without attribution. (JH).
Four-day matches for Canada in InterContinental Cup -- Posted Tuesday, April 11 2006
The ICC Intercontinental Cup 2006 group stages will be opened by Kenya and the Netherlands in Nairobi on Wednesday, April 12, 2006.
Both sides have the chance to be the early pace-setters when the group stages of the ICC Intercontinental Cup begin.
With a maximum of 20 points on offer for the winning side –six for a first innings lead and 14 for a victory – a successful start to the first-class competition for non Test-playing ICC Members will set up either team nicely for the rest of the campaign. That sort of start is especially important because only the sides that top the two four-team groups will retain a chance of lifting the trophy as, unlike in 2004 and 2005, there are no semi-finals with those group winners going straight into a final against each other.
That is not the only change in the format either. The tournament may have been slimmed down to an eight-team event from 12 in its first two years but now each team will play a minimum of three games compared to two in the past.
And with full ODI commitments for six of the teams that will play in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 - Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, The Netherlands and Scotland – the final cannot be slotted in until early next year.
The duration of games in the ICC Intercontinental Cup has changed as well. Each match is now being played over four days instead of the three set aside for clashes in 2004 and 2005 and the competition is truly global from the start, as opposed to the previous two seasons when the group stages were regional.
This first match, with an African side taking on a team from Europe, is an illustration of that, as is the fact Kenya and the Netherlands have been paired with teams from a third region, the Americas - Bermuda and Canada.
Meanwhile, in Group A, European sides Scotland and defending champions Ireland are joined by Namibia from Africa and the United Arab Emirates from the Asia region.
The first match in that group is in early May with Scotland playing Namibia.
The Namibians reached this stage after drawing their Challenge Match with Nepal in Windhoek, a match that ended on Sunday.
The Kenya - Netherlands match is intriguing because it appears, on paper at least, to be a tricky one to predict. Both sides have plenty of experience but it is how they translate that experience into performances in this match that will count.
Kenya come into the encounter off the back of a disappointing 4-0 ODI series loss in Bangladesh when they were handicapped by illness but that followed a well-contested 2-2 series against Zimbabwe.
It means many of their players have plenty of cricket under their belts – albeit of the ODI variety – and that can never be a bad thing.
Their squad includes seven players from the side that lost last year’s ICC Intercontinental Cup final to Ireland in Namibia, including captain Steve Tikolo, the leading run-scorer in that competition, and that core has been supplemented by some exciting additions.
Two players who took part in the ICC Winter Training Camp (ICC WTC) in South Africa are included – pace bowler Alfred Luseno and all-rounder Kalpesh Patel – while all-rounder Ashish Karia and swing bowler Rajesh Bhudia could make their senior debuts.
Top-order batsman and left-arm spinner Brijal Patel, who captained Kenya A in a warm-up match for the Netherlands on Sunday, has also been selected and he looks likely to open the batting alongside Maurice Ouma, with the latter set to take over behind the stumps in place of Kennedy Otieno, who has been left out.
Another player to keep an eye out for is 19 year-old batsman Tanmay Mishra, who debuted against Zimbabwe and featured in all eight of Kenya’s recent ODIs, scoring a fighting 48 in the last of them against Bangladesh.
The Netherlands are close to full strength and that wealth of experience already referred to includes two players – all-rounder Tim de Leede and batsman Bas Zuiderant – that featured in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1996 but, amazingly, this match will be 38 year-old de Leede’s maiden first-class outing.
Their spin bowling options may be reduced with 18 year-old slow left-armer Pieter Seelaar reportedly ruled out following a family bereavement and that may mean top-order batsman Daan van Bunge is pressed into service with his leg-spin. He is a capable bowler too, taking 4-18 against Kenya A.
Tom de Grooth, a batsman who was the Netherlands’ sole representative at the ICC WTC, is also in the squad and he made 81 in that match against Kenya A. The visitors won by 100 runs with de Leede scoring 123.
Kenya (from): Steve Tikolo (captain), Rajesh Bhudia, Ashish Karia, Alfred Luseno, Tanmay Mishra, Hitesh Modi, Collins Oboya, Thomas Odoyo, Peter Ongondo, Maurice Ouma (wicket-keeper), Brijal Patel, Kalpesh Patel, Tony Suji.
The Netherlands (from): Luuk van Troost (captain), Daan van Bunge, Ryan ten Doeschete, Victor Grandia, Tom de Grooth, Muhammad Kashif, Alexei Kervezee, Tim de Leede, Darron Reekers, Edgar Schiferli, Pieter Seelaar, Jeroen Smits (wicket-keeper), Billy Stelling, Bas Zuiderant.
The two groups for the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2006 are as follows:
Group A
Ireland
Scotland
United Arab Emirates
Namibia
Group B
Kenya
Bermuda
Canada
Netherlands
Material sourced from http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/world/intercontinental-cup-opens-in-nairobi,7728,EN.html
Cricket on CBC in May -- Posted Sunday, April 9 2006
CRICKET AND THE MEANING OF LIFE on CBC NEWS: THE LENS on CBC Newsworld on Tuesday May 16th at 10pm Eastern, 1am ET, and 4am ET - with repeat telecasts on Saturday May 20th at 10pm ET and 1am ET.
You will need to adjust for other time zones - in any on-air promotion we tend to say "10pmET & 10pmPT" to cover the major time zones.
REEL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL
Cricket at Reel World - schedule
'Cricket and the Meaning Of Life' will have its premiere on April 22nd @ 1:30pm at Toronto's Rainbow Cinemas Market Square - 80 Front St. E. (at Jarvis St.) (Submited by Sanjay Talreja)
Editorial note:- Included in the University of Windsor tribute for excellence in research, scholarship and creative activity, honouring over 50 members of faculty for their successes during 2005, was Professor Sanjay Talreja, for his work with the National Film Board in making the documentary film "Cricket and the Meaning of Life". (JH)
CRICKET: REALITY, RESPECT, REWARD - PHOTO EXHIBITION AND PANEL DISCUSSION, METRO HALL -- Posted Sunday, April 9 2006
The West Indies' preparation for hosting of the Cricket World Cup 2007 is stimulating the interest of Canada's cricket community, especially given the aspiration of the Canadian National Cricket Team, which will compete in the quadrennial event.
Photo Exhibition
With the kind endorsement of Toronto City Councillor Michael Thompson, and of the Consulate of Antigua and Barbuda in Toronto, photographer Michael Phang will present the photo exhibition 'Conjuring Cricket: Images of a Culture,' at Metro Hall (April 24-30). Mr. Phang is a Toronto based photographer whose body of work encompasses the world of photojournalism and portraiture. He has served as photo editor on a number of newspapers and magazines within the academic sphere, an experience which has influenced his approach to photography. His work has been published in the Ryerson Review of Journalism, the Metro Toronto Newspaper and the Hart House Review, and his experience now brings him to 'Conjuring Cricket.'
The exhibition will comprise images created during a recent visit to Antigua, the country that will host the Cricket World Cup quarterfinal matches. The images explore a nation on the verge of welcoming the world, a nation in which cricket is more passion than simple pastime.
Panel Discussion
At 6:00 p.m. on the evening of Wednesday, April 26, at Metro Hall, Antigua and Barbuda's Consul General Madeline Blackman will present a public reception, to be followed by a panel discussion. The panel discussion is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., and will focus on the theme:
'Cricket: Reality, Respect, Reward.'
Errol Townshend, president of the Ontario Cricket Association, will moderate this panel discussion, which will feature prominent members of the international, and the Canadian cricket community. In addition to being of interest to avid cricket fans, the event will cater to persons with an interest in the Caribbean region, its world-renowned West Indies cricket team, and in Canada's National Cricket team.
The panel will include: Richie Richardson, Former West Indies Team Captain and current Captain of the Lashings' Cricket Club. Cricket's genteel operator, Mr. Richardson was declared a Wisden 'Cricketer of the Year.' He is currently Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Antigua-Barbuda Sports Tourism Alliance (ABSTA). Ben Sennik, President of the Canadian Cricket Association (CCA). Mr.Sennik is responsible for all operations of the CCA. Andy Pick, Team Coach of the Canadian National Cricket Team, and former coach of the England Under 19 team. Mr. Pick has recently been appointed as coach of the Canadian National Cricket Team. Filmmaker Sanjay Talreja (Director, Cricket and the Meaning of Life). Professor Talreja lectures at the University of Windsor, and specializes in documentary features exploring social justice, nationalism, migration, and identity. Manyu Sharma, President of the Ryerson Student Cricket Association, a young man with unmatched devotion to the game of cricket, is the dynamo behind intra-mural cricket in our universities. Moderator, Errol Townshend, President of the Ontario Cricket Association.
Mr. Townshend will direct panellists in exploring the theme of cricket: so familiar to some Canadians, yet foreign to others. Mr. Townshend is one of five selectors of Canada's senior team.
The images from 'Conjuring Cricket: Images of a Culture,' will also be presented May 03-14 at Gallery 201QueenEast as part of the 'CONTACT' photography festival. The cricket images will also be displayed at the Queen and Saulter Toronto Public Library Branch at 765 Queen St. East for the month of May 2006. (JH from press release)
Emergency meeting in Toronto about increased fees for cricket -- Posted Saturday, April 8 2006
"Cricket will go ahead this season" was the key outcome of the Emergency Meeting of the Toronto and District Cricket Association (T&DCA), held on Tuesday, April 4.
The meeting had been called to consider the hefty fee increases for cricket fields being sought by Toronto City Council. As stated in the T&DCA’s email to club administrators, the original increase would see the total amount being paid by clubs in the range of $119,000 for 2006, compared with $27,000 in 2005.
As things stand, the increase for 2006 will now raise charges to $41,000. The T&DCA intend to note their appreciation for the reduction in the increase but are urging clubs and cricketers to lobby their city councilors and express concerns oabout how the game can thrive and develop in the context of hefty fee increase. A standard e-mail letter is to be distributed by the T&D board.
T&DCA Vice-President Norman Jackson did a good job in chairing the meeting, keeping discussions on the important theme of ‘what can we do to ensure cricket is played this summer’, noting there might be other issues in the background or for the future that the board would need to address.
The meeting began with good news, virtually hot off the presses, from the city parks department that for 2006 they would recommend a lower increase in fees for 2006 (a 66% reduction from the original amount). This would put the costs at about $41,000 for the T&DCA, a raise of 50% compared with 2005. Under this proposal fees in 2007 would be 33% below the $119,000 figure but in 2008 the city would be seeking the full $119,000 amount.
The reduction arises from discretionary powers granted to the General Manager of the Parks department under the banner of financial hardship for not-for-profit-groups.
The main reason for the significant pitch fee increases seems to be two-fold. One is that the areas used for cricket in Toronto Parks by the T&D are deemed to be premier facilities (increases for premier facilities are greater than for non-premier ones).
The other factor is that it is part of the harmonization of permit rates that accompanies the merger of the previous cities and boroughs of Metro Toronto into the new City of Toronto. The harmonization program was supposed to be ‘revenue neutral’ to the overall budget of the city.
Apparently those using pitches in Etobicoke and Scarborough would have seen a reduction in pitch costs under the harmonization policy. This does raise the much broader issue of how long has it taken to ‘harmonize’ various policies and costs under the ‘new’ City of Toronto banner. I’m certainly not going down that path.
Canadian Cricket Association 1st Vice President Howard Petrook had been involved in the negotiations and discussions over the past week with the city. He noted that cricket is being charged on the basis of $32.50 per hour, similar to that for soccer or rugby but cricket needs more hours to complete a match. Charges for junior games apply at the same rate.
Petrook had been told that cricket either did not attend, or report, with a common voice concerns over fee raises which seem to have been held over the previous 2-3 years.
Some suggestions from the meeting were that the T&DCA Board should research what charges are being made for cricket by other nearby local authorities, also on some issues there might be commonality of interests with other sports so a combined approach might be appropriate. It was noted that this is an election year, so it is a good year to approach your city councilor to see if they can help…..because if they cannot, or will not, cricketers can promise not to vote for them!
I noted that fees for juniors are the same as for adults…perhaps this is something that could be addressed with the city via an all-sports forum?
There were suggestions that people should phone CP24 on the evening when mayor David Miller is on television for his weekly talk-show. Some even suggested a protest when the next ‘A Celebration of Cricket/Mayors Trophy’ event is staged at Sunnybrook Park. One speaker noted the mayor had been very much pro-cricket in 2005 but the fee hikes are not.
To quote some of Mayor Miller’s words of welcome to last season’s Celebration of Cricket: ‘Once Canada’s national sport, cricket continues to grow among students and communities around the world. It is a game that connects our diverse communities and improves our cross-cultural interaction.” Police Chief Bill Blair noted “The game of cricket provides a wonderful opportunity for players from Toronto’s diverse communities to interact and compete with others in a fun-filled and exciting sport.”
Perhaps some of these latter words might be usefully raised in future discussions with the city. The other words, on a more parochial front, and raised on Tuesday night, would be: why didn’t representatives from all T&DCA clubs turn up for this meeting. Ah!...but they can still lobby and email their councilors and the mayor as part of the ongoing campaign. (Eddie Norfolk).
Bringing cricket back to Kerr Hall, at Ryerson University, Toronto -- Posted Sunday, April 2 2006
Since Abhimanyu Sharma took over as president of the Ryerson Student Cricket Association, the club has quickly become one of sports and recreation's most popular. Abhimanyu Sharma has not shaved, or cut his hair, since he set out to get cricket back on the Ryerson campus. He's 21, in his third year of Information and Technology Management, and now has a shoulder-length mass of curls with enough bounce for a Pantene ad.
His friends sometimes tease him about it, he says. "But everyday that I get up in the morning and see myself in the mirror, I say to myself, 'you know what? I have to achieve something for cricket.. It keeps on reminding me thatI have to get this done. I have to get this done.'"
Sharma is the President of the Ryerson Student Cricket Association (RSCA), a 502-member-strong group that will have pitched and batted for its fifth time this semester in the upper Kerr Hall gym after the sport's hiatus last fall.
The RSCA has been granted, after much negociation with Ryerson sports and recreation, four hours a week in the upper gym -- twice as much as last year. "We've been struggling for it," says Hamid Ahmed, 21, also in ITM and the RSCA's treasurer. "It's been a step forward. And we're greatly thankful for that."
Cricket was suspended last semester while sports and recreation waited for floor protection to arrive for the upper gym. (Cricket bats are fantastically good at wrecking hardwood.) The university recently spent $6,000 to repair 16 to 18 damaged spots.
Fresh from England, the floor protection, a 22-yard green rug looking like it was ripped off a mini-golf course and topped with Velcro, is now rolled out and stomped on with gleeful impunity. Sharma says he's pleased. He said so in his last two e-mails, which, combined, were 1,068 words long.
After last year's executive splintered and the future of cricket at Ryerson was in the air, Sharma took over as president. Now at bat, he wants cricket to leave its mark not only at Ryerson, but across Ontario. Sharma says his aim is to make the sport official with Ontario University Athletics (OUA), so that one day those kids stepping on a bus bound for a joust with McGill, Guelph, or wherever, will be holding not only volleyballs and basketballs, but cricket bats as well.
"I know the OUA, it needs at least eight universities to have some kind of league cricket going on," he says. "When I think about it seriously, I think I can come up with eight. If somebody takes the initiative, then maybe this thing can be done in a couple of years, three years, four."
At the moment, the RSCA is an unofficial club at Ryerson, just clutching the bottom rung of what Sharma needs for the sport to hit the top. If the club is made official, sports and recreation would take over the administration from the RSCA. An official club would also charge a fee (right now RSCA members only need a RAC card) and get guaranteed gym times.
The association currently plays Mondays from noon to 2 p.m. and Fridays from 2 to 4 p.m. Sports and recreation had to bump a few hours of recreational basketball time to allow for these hours. Sharma says he suspects resources are an issue in the club's proposal for official status and more gym hours. He's right.
When it comes to official clubs at Ryerson, sports and recreation's Jenga tower is teetering and cricket is riding the bottom block. "They want to have official status. I can understand that," says Dave Dubois, director of sports and recreation. "But right now, we're not taking any new clubs. We just don't have the facilities. We're just tapped out. Now, if you get us another triple gym somewhere..."
Dubois, who as a kid played cricket with tomato cans and baseball bats, says he's also been forced to turn down requests from wrestling, baseball and cross country clubs.
Still, even with official club status out of reach for cricket, Dubois says he's pleased with the restart. "I hope they enjoy it," he says. "I'm happy. It's a great sport. And it's our job to accommodate them."
As for cricket hitting the OUA, Dubois says Sharma has a long way to go and needs to get organized. Sharma says he's got the message. "It wasn't as organized as well as it's going to be from now on," he says. "We want to make it easier for Ryerson and sports and rec to digest us, to understand how we play the game, to understand our mentality. We really are responsible, even if we're unofficial."
Sharma says he's been in contact with different universities, making sure their cricket clubs have at least 200 people. "That's the kind of determination and devotion (Sharma) has. That's why it was even possible to (have) cricket here," says Ahmed, who is still getting calls from people wanting to join the RSCA -- a good thing, because Sharma graduates in three semesters and is looking for future keeners.
"I know even after I leave Ryerson, I'm definitely going to make sure there are some people who are able to take this thing forwards," he says. "I'm still trying to find youngsters to carry this on."
And what about his hair, which he was supposed to cut by now? "Maybe I'll keep it this long, because now I need to get it accomplished in Ontario," he says. "You have to be a dreamer and you have to be a doer."
Materail sourced from the article written by Wing Hong Tse at
http://www.theeyeopener.com/print/print.cfm?storyid=2528
Cricket lecture at the University of Toronto -- Posted Saturday, April 1 2006
A lecture is being given at the Faculty of Physical Education and Health on Monday April 17th from 4.10pm to 5pm.
The speaker is Dr.Boria Majumbar and he will be speaking on cricket in India under the title
Eleven Gods and a Billion Indians - Cricket as Everyday Life in India.
Dr. Majumbar is a former Rhodes Scholar, with academic appointments at the University of Calcutta, the University of Chicago, and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, Boria is one of the foremost authorities on cricket in the sub-continent, an innovative social historian and a dazzling speaker.
This event is open to the university and the local community. All those interested in Indian cricket will find this very interesting, stimulating and entertaining.
Cricket and the Victorians - book review -- Posted Saturday, April 1 2006
The quintessential "English" game, cricket is probably an enigma not just to the majority of the English-speaking world but also to a substantial proportion of the country's natives. Yet it is still identified as one of the key indices of Britain's changing world position--note here the elision of England with the rest of the United Kingdom. Such a muddle has long been tolerated but not approved by both Scots and Irish.
This pre-industrial sport with origins sufficiently misty to allow a range of patriotic re-inventions has long lacked a sound study. True, there has been stacks of texts for enthusiasts, club histories, hagiographies, and performance tables whose memorizing has whiled away many a winter hour, but it has stood outside the circle of socio-historical criticism afforded to the varieties of British football, for instance. Now that has been remedied by Sandiford's study which is not quite as limited chronologically as its title suggest--there is a valuable and substantial chapter on the "Georgian legacy." Written from a country, Canada, to which the sport has hardly been transplanted it shows both the virtues of geographical detachment from the sources and some of the limitations of writing from such a distance.
His case is the game's adaptability to the leisure needs of a "mass" society. In its pan-class following it perhaps deserves such a role, although Sandiford qualifies repeatedly the base for its appeal. He brings out well the tensions inherent in adapting an activity characterized as a semi-nostalgic exercise in pastorale to a largely urban environment. This is done both in organizational terms, the founding of clubs and a developing bureaucracy, and in terms of the ethical weighting put upon it. "Muscular Christianity," a ground already well-trodden by other historians, has another walkover but it is difficult to see how the topic could have been tackled without it. Sandiford is stronger on its personalities than some of the linguistic residues of the missionary approach in which cricket was an important tool.
The author has two very strong models for his overall approach--Mason's study of English Association Football and Vamplew's of professionalism. He acknowledges his debts and goes well beyond his mentors. In a sense, he overstates the case for a comparable study of cricket and football, particularly in the arguments about regional loyalties. Although football clubs have long attracted active fans from outside their own towns, there must surely be a considerable qualitative difference between the more diffuse role of an English country cricket side and that of a first-division soccer team with its strong urban roots. There are questions of spatial loyalties and the tensions between fostering "communal" and "associational" bonds which deserve more thought by all working on the social history of sport.
There are occasionally some surprising statements in the text. At one point the game is described as a "traditional village tradition" and are told that "village cricket...was also played in rural areas." Elsewhere, the Yorkshire pit village of Wombwell with a population of seventeen thousand is described as "small," an epithet it would only deserve if it were a hundredth of that size. So many historians of modern Britain do seem to get lost when they stray outside urban boundaries.
But these are minor quibbles. This is a very good and readable study. Its greatest strength lies in Sandiford's examination of professionalization, its resulting tensions and impact on key personnel. For all his playing skills, W.G. Grace is shown up for the strutting humbug that he was. And it is in the careers of those exploited journeymen, the club professionals, that see the insults to human dignity that this religiously ennobling game could inflict so callously. Often employed for only part of the year, just as much "hands" as were many industrial operatives, these men were often regarded as little more than inefficient bawling machines or less competent batting partners for gentlemen "stars." The irony is that it was only their continued deference and exploitation that made the county game's expansion en remotely possible; there was no way in which upper-middle class "amateurs" could have carried cricket into its new entertainment role. The reward was often poverty, inadequately-funded "benefit" matches, and a decline into suffering and an early death. Sandiford is surprisingly restrained in his thorough chronicling of these and he offers us a picture of employment practices which could well be matched in studies of other sports and individuals. His tabulation of the end-of-career earnings of several hundred players is superbly filled out by the careful tracing of the lives of so many of them.
This book deserves to be read widely: by cricket enthusiasts who need a dose of a more critical perspective than mere performance lists and saintly myths can offer, by many "sports historians" who need to locate their enthusiasms in a more rigorous framework, and by many "social historians" who will find some current emphases well complemented here. Sandiford has given us a useful piece. What we now need is a second volume, to cover the ninety years since.
Editorial note: Kieth Sandiford is a retired Professor of History, from the University of Manitoba. He was at school with Gary Sobers in Barbados, and has written the definite analysis of Gary's Test career. (JH)
Material sourced from http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3686/is_199508/ai_n8711676#continue
Cricket and the Victorians - a book review -- Posted Saturday, April 1 2006
The quintessential "English" game, cricket is probably an enigma not just to the majority of the English-speaking world but also to a substantial proportion of the country's natives. Yet it is still identified as one of the key indices of Britain's changing world position--note here the elision of England with the rest of the United Kingdom. Such a muddle has long been tolerated but not approved by both Scots and Irish.
This pre-industrial sport with origins sufficiently misty to allow a range of patriotic re-inventions has long lacked a sound study. True, there has been stacks of texts for enthusiasts, club histories, hagiographies, and performance tables whose memorizing has whiled away many a winter hour, but it has stood outside the circle of socio-historical criticism afforded to the varieties of British football, for instance. Now that has been remedied by Sandiford's study which is not quite as limited
chronologically as its title suggest--there is a valuable and substantial chapter on the "Georgian legacy." Written from a country, Canada, to which the sport has hardly been transplanted it shows both the virtues of geographical detachment from the sources and some of the limitations of writing from such a distance.
His case is the game's adaptability to the leisure needs of a "mass" society. In its pan-class following it perhaps deserves such a role, although Sandiford qualifies repeatedly the base for its appeal. He brings out well the tensions inherent in adapting an activity characterized as a semi-nostalgic exercise in pastorale to a largely urban environment. This is done both in organizational terms, the founding of clubs and a developing bureaucracy, and in terms of the ethical weighting put upon it. "Muscular Christianity," a ground already well-trodden by other historians, has another walkover but it is difficult to see how the topic could have been tackled without it. Sandiford is stronger on its personalities than some of the linguistic residues of the missionary approach in which cricket was an important tool.
The author has two very strong models for his overall approach--Mason's study of English Association Football and Vamplew's of professionalism. He acknowledges his debts and goes well beyond his mentors. In a sense, he overstates the case for a comparable study of cricket and football, particularly in the arguments about regional loyalties. Although football clubs have long attracted active fans from outside their own towns, there must surely be a considerable qualitative difference between the more diffuse role of an English country cricket side and that of a first-division soccer team with its strong urban roots. There are questions of spatial loyalties and the tensions between fostering "communal" and "associational" bonds which deserve more thought by all working on the social history of sport.
There are occasionally some surprising statements in the text. At one point the game is described as a "traditional village tradition" and are told that "village cricket...was also played in rural areas." Elsewhere, the Yorkshire pit village of Wombwell with a population of seventeen thousand is described as "small," an epithet it would only deserve if it were a hundredth of that size. So many historians of modern Britain do seem to get lost when they stray outside urban boundaries.
But these are minor quibbles. This is a very good and readable study. Its greatest strength lies in Sandiford's examination of professionalization, its resulting tensions and impact on key personnel. For all his playing skills, W.G. Grace is shown up for the strutting humbug that he was. And it is in the careers of those exploited journeymen, the club professionals, that see the insults to human dignity that this religiously ennobling game could inflict so callously. Often employed for only part of the year, just as much "hands" as were many industrial operatives, these men were often regarded as little more than inefficient bawling machines or less competent batting partners for gentlemen "stars." The irony is that it was only their continued deference and exploitation that made the county game's expansion en remotely possible; there was no way in which upper-middle class "amateurs" could have carried cricket into its new entertainment role. The reward was often poverty, inadequately-funded "benefit" matches, and a decline into suffering and an early death. Sandiford is surprisingly restrained in his thorough chronicling of these and he offers us a picture of employment practices which could well be matched in studies of other sports and individuals. His tabulation of the end-of-career earnings of several hundred players is superbly filled out by the careful tracing of the lives of so many of them.
This book deserves to be read widely: by cricket enthusiasts who need a dose of a more critical perspective than mere performance lists and saintly myths can offer, by many "sports historians" who need to locate their enthusiasms in a more rigorous framework, and by many "social historians" who will find some current emphases well complemented here. Sandiford has given us a useful piece. What we now need is a second volume, to cover the ninety years since.
Editorial note: Kieth Sandiford is a retired Professor of History, from the University of Manitoba. Born in Barbados he attended school with Garfield Sobers and has written the definitive statistical analysis of Sober's Test cricket career. (JH).
Material sourced from http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3686/is_199508/ai_n8711676#continue