Meet The Future |
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Ummar Babbary |
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13.09.02 | |
Cricket in Canada is like the experience of new immigrants, who are finding it hard to adjust in their new environment. Beyond facing lots of problems, there is having to cope with the perpetual phrase Has no Canadian Experience. Cricket, and cricketers, in Canada have essentially only Canadian Experience. The point is that this Experience is not enough to help Canada in the World Cup 2003, and/or the future growth of cricket in Canada. What is required is an initiative to concentrate on solving the problems, starting with the very basics. These problems range from the administrative, to playing conditions. Practically, players have three to four months to play cricket in Canada, and in this period they have to play, work, and practice (most of the players do not practice because of their jobs, and some even works nights in order to play). Like new optimistic immigrants, cricketers and the governing body feel cricket has a bright future in Canada. Scattered in my experiences of cricket in Canada are a few glimpses of hope. I happened to observe one of these, when I saw a fourteen year old slim youngster practicing cricket alone in a school ground. He was focused and did not seem to bother whether he was practicing correctly or not. Subsequently, I saw this young lad playing in a match. He was impressive. I decided to interview this promising player. Gagan was born in Canada and is a grade 9 student. In response to rapid questioning he replied calmly, intelligently, and in a straightforward manner, all the while smiling. His excitement of being interviewed was expressed throughout the conversation by his glittering eyes, and love for family members was obvious. Ganga told me that he played his first match in 1998 in an under 15 team. He considers himself to be an all rounder, batting right handed and bowls right arm off spin. Q: Does any
body coach you? That was the last question I asked him and after a cup of tea, I left his house. Ummar Babary is a new Canadian, having been here for less than a year. He has experience playing and coaching first class cricket in Pakistan. During the current season he has played with some success in both the Scarborough League and the Toronto & District League, and taken the initial umpires training with the Toronto Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association. Ummar holds an M.A. (Psychology) and has ambitions and dreams of qualifying as a sports psychologist, specializing in cricket. With this first venture into writing about cricket I am delighted to welcome him to our editorial team and he has already accepted another assignment. canadacricket.com has been advised not to publish the full names on minors, nor to publish photographs of young cricketers. Jon Harris. |
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