Nottingham Public School

The 2017 Durham Elementary Schools Cricket Challenge was decided by a review of wickets lost after Nottingham Public School (PS) and Chris Hadfield PS each scored 71 runs from 10 overs in the final. Nottingham PS won thanks to taking 12 wickets in the final, twice as many as the 6 wickets Chris Hadfield captured.
This was the fifth year for the Durham Elementary Cricket Challenge and this year’s tournament included a recreational section as well as the main competitive section. Games are played using a modified using a modified version of cricket, played indoors by co-ed teams. Each team has ten players and each of the players will bat for one over and bowl for one over during the course of the game.

Canada captain Nitish Kumar umpiring

In the competitive section, eight school teams qualified for the Elementary Cricket Challenge playoffs on Thursday, November 23 following qualifying rounds played during the three previous days. Seven of the qualifiers were group winners, the eighth team had the best record of the losing There was a recreational competition each day in addition to the focal competitive Cricket Challenge championship.
Michael VandenBos PS (87 runs) beat Winchester PS (74 runs) by 13 runs in the Cricket Challenge playoff for third place. The recreational section on November 23 was won by Claremont PS team 1, who beat Claremont PS team 2 in the final.
Nottingham’s 2017 win reversed the outcome of the November 2016 final, another nail-biter where Chris Hadfield had beaten Nottingham by just 1 run. Nottingham now has won two of the five Durham Cricket Challenges but Chris Hadfield has won the championship in the other three years. Nottingham’s previous championship success came in 2015.
Expansion Hopes Met
The organizers hopes were achieved with a record 106 co-ed teams from 60 schools playing in this modified, indoor version of cricket. In 2016 there had been 76 participating co-ed teams.
The Durham District School Board’s website says there are 131 elementary schools in the Durham (Ontario) region. So 60 participating schools in 2017 is well on the way to including half the region’s schools.
The Whitby Soccer Centre has also expanded since last year, thanks to the opening of a second, larger dome that hosts a full-size indoor soccer field. Both the large dome and the small dome were used; the Cricket Challenge playoffs took place in the large dome.
Nauman Vania and Don Laita from Queen Elizabeth Public School, Whitby are at the helm of this tournament. Both work hard keeping the games flowing. Between overs and after the tournament they have been working to see what improvements to the playing rules could be
beneficial.
These two schools organizers have worked with the Cricket KIDS program of Cricket Canada in organizing some introductory cricket coaching sessions ahead of what has become an annual tournament.
During a brief closing ceremony and in a write-up for Durham District School Board, the organizers thanked the coaches, players and volunteers as well as organizations and people who have supported the development , growth and operation of this cricket tournament. Thanks went to the CGMA/CIMA, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Canadian Tire, Zubin Surkari and Dhruv Barot of Cricket Canada, Bill Sidsworth of the Whitby Soccer Club, and Ranil Mendis (CGMA/CIMA).
Nauman Vania and Don Laita “look forward to an even bigger and better tournament in 2018.”
Durham Region’s Urban and Rural Mix
Durham District School Board serves a mix of rural and urban communities. There has been significant expansion in recent years along the shoreline of Lake Ontario from Pickering, next door to the City of Toronto, through to Oshawa, in the east. North of these expanding towns and cities are the townships of Brock, Scugog and Uxbridge. Quaker Village PS from Uxbridge qualified for the Cricket Challenge Playoffs.
As previously mentioned, two teams from Claremont PS met in the day’s recreational division final on November 23. Claremont is a hamlet, north of Pickering, where formal education was introduced in 1824. The current Claremont PS opened in 1923.
Some of the schools in the Cricket Challenge Playoffs have only been founded in the last 30 years. Cadaraque PS, in Ajax, opened in September 1991 and 2017 champion Nottingham PS, also in Ajax, opened in September 2006.
2017 Durham Elementary Cricket Challenge – Competitive Section Qualifying Series: November 20, 21 & 22, 2017
November 20, 2017 in the Large Dome
Sixteen (16) teams participated. All teams advanced to quarter-finals after three rounds of matches. The eight winning teams advanced to two series of semi-finals and a final. The two winning finalists automatically qualified for the Championship Playoffs on November 23, 2017.
Qualification Semi-finals

Valley View 75 runs beat Brooklin Village 40 runs by 35 runs
Captain Michael VandenBos #2 67 runs beat Alexander Graham Bell 38 runs by 29 runs Robert Munsch #1 81 runs beat Kedron 65 by 16 runs
Winchester #1 66 runs beat Whitby Shores #1 56 runs by 10 runs
Qualification Finals (Nov 20)
Valley View 61 runs lost to Winchester #1 95 runs by 34 runs
Captain Michael VandenBos #2 80 runs beat Robert Munsch 48 runs by 32 runs
November 21, 2017 in the Large Dome
Ten (10) teams participated. Three rounds of matches were played followed by a qualifying round with the winning teams progressing into the quarter-finals. Winning quarter-finalists advanced to the semi-finals and the winning semi-finalists contested the final.
Qualification Semi-finals
Chris Hadfield #1 73 runs beat Glen Dhu #1 59 runs by 14 runs Southwood Park #1 32 runs lost to Meadowcrest 79 runs by 47 runs
Qualification Final (Nov 21 – Large Dome)
Chris Hadfield #1 125 runs beat Meadowcrest #1 80 runs by 45 runs
November 22, 2017 in the Large Dome
Sixteen (16) teams participated. All teams advanced to quarter-finals after three rounds of matches. The eight winning teams advanced to two series of semi-finals and a final. The two winning finalists automatically qualified for the Championship Playoffs on November 23, 2017.
Qualification Semi-finals
da Vinci 59 lost to Harmony Heights #1 70 runs by 11 runs
Quaker Village #2 83 runs beat Harmony Heights #2 61 runs by 22 runs Nottingham #2 45 runs lost to Waverly 55 runs by 10 runs
Lester B. Pearson 43 runs lost to Nottingham #1 86 runs by 43 runs
Qualification Finals (Nov 22 – Large Dome)
Harmony Heights #1 50 runs lost to Nottingham #1 85 runs by 35 runs Quaker Village #2 79 beat Waverly 66 runs by 13 runs

November 22, 2017 in the Small Dome
Eight (8) teams participated. All teams advanced to quarter-finals after three rounds of matches. The eight winning teams advanced to two series of semi-finals and a final. The two winning finalists automatically qualified for the Championship Playoffs on November 23, 2017.
Qualification Semi-finals
Lincoln Alexander #1 37 runs lost to Vimy Ridge #1 58 runs by 21 runs Scott Central 50 runs lost to Romeo Dallaire #1 36 runs by 11 runs
Qualification Final (Nov 21 – Small Dome)
Vimy Ridge #1 25 runs lost to Romeo Dallaire #1 36 by 11 runs
Championship Playoffs – November 23, 2017 (Whitby Soccer Centre – Large Dome)
Quarter Finals
Nottingham #1 81 runs beat Vimy Ridge #1 35 runs by 46 runs
Winchester #1 102 runs beat Cadaraque #1 60 runs by 42 runs
Captain Michael Vandenbos #2 110 runs beat Quaker Village #2 63 runs by 47 runs Romeo Dallaire #1 50 runs lost to Chris Hadfield #1 75 runs by 25 runs
Semi Finals
Nottingham #1 88 runs beat Winchester #1 42 runs by 46 runs
Captain Michael Vandenbos #2nd 56 runs lost to Hadfield #1 100 runs by 44 runs
Final
Nottingham #1 71 runs beat Chris Hadfield #1 71 runs – win on a tie breaker Tie-breaker: Nottingham #1 took 12 wickets, Chris Hadfield #1 took 6 wickets
3rd Place Playoff
Winchester #1 74 runs lost to Captain Michael VandenBos #2 87 runs by 13 runs.

Eddie Norfolk