‘IT’S ON’ say adverts for the Global T20 Canada in some ethnic media newspapers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) that were published on or before June 22, 2018.
The outer front cover of ‘The Weekly Voice’ (June 22, 2018) is a full page advert for the Global T20 Canada that includes the mix of seven marquee players (Gayle, Warner, Malinga, Smith, Afridi, Sammy and Southee ) and an invitation to ‘Get your tickets now!’. The advert highlights the dates of the GT20 (June 28 to July 15, 2018) and names the ground as Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City. This cover page advert discloses how the tournament is brought to you by Mercuri and Cricket Canada. On the back outer cover of ‘The Weekly Voice” is the list of ‘Fixtures’ (or the ‘Schedule’ as the list of games tends to be known in North America) plus another invite to ‘Get your tickets now!’.
‘The Weekly Voice’ includes a preview about the tournament which starts next Thursday (June 28). The preview is timely and includes the schedule of games, noting the opening game features West Indies stars Chris Gayle (Vancouver Knights) and Darren Sammy (Toronto Hawks).
Some will remember Chris Gayle scored a century for West Indies at Maple Leaf Cricket Club in the final of the 2008 Scotiabank Tri-Series against Canada after missing the round-robin game with Canada. Gayle’s absence in the round-robin match turned into a day to remember for the Windies Xavier Marshall who thumped 157* from 115 balls, including 12 sixes and 11 fours. The 12 sixes set a new record for an individual innings in an ODI. West Indies made 303/4 from 50 overs at Maple Leaf CC and Canada replied with 254 all out after 47.2 overs.
The 2008 Scotibank Tri-Series tournament saw Rizwan Cheema bring some new light to Canadian cricket. Cheema struck 89 from 69 balls and took 3 wickets for 31 from 10 economical overs in Canada’s round-robin game against the Windies. Cheema top-scored with 61 runs for Canada in the final against West Indies. Canada was bowled out for 179 after 46.5 overs then Chris Gayle powered to 110* (14x4s, 6x6s) out of Windies winning 181/3 from 27.3 overs).
Chris Gayle is playing for Vancouver Knights and Rizwan Cheema is with the Winnipeg Hawks in the Global T20 Canada which starts on Thursday. Cheema was picked by the Hawks ahead of Hiral Patel, who back in 2009 was the first pick overall in the TJT National T20 draft when playing for Canada Under-19s.
The full page advert featuring the international marquee players in the GT20 Canada also appeared in Indo Caribbean World (June 20) and Urdu Post (June 21).
GT20 TV Coverage Advertised
A smaller advert in The Weekly Asian Connections (June 22, 2018) featured the international marquee players but lacked the invitation and internet link to buy tickets. It was interesting as it mentioned TV coverage – Live on CBN – and named CIBC as an Associate Sponsor.
Thursday’s (June 28) opening game between Toronto Nationals and Vancouver Knights is listed as live from 15.30 hrs on the schedule of CBN (Commonwealth Broadcasting Network). CBN is a company under the umbrella of the Asian Television Network (ATN).
On an initial look at the CBN schedule, GT20 Canada games are to be shown live with repeat transmissions at later hours, such as the 05.30 Saturday morning (June 30) repeat showing of this coming Friday’s Montreal Tigers v Winnipeg Hawks game.
The only other Canadian cricket content story I found from a review of ethnic media newspapers before leaving Toronto last Saturday (June 23) for parts east, namely Fredericton, New Brunswick, was a report about the Shahid Afridi Cricket Club’s 127 run win against Ahmediya CC in the Toronto District Cricket Association on Jun 17.
Contributions to the Shahid Afridia CC effort by players involved in the upcoming GT20 included 26 runs from Rizwan Cheema, 3 wickets for Cecil Pervez, while Satsimranjit Dhindsa hit 22 runs and took 3 wickets. This report was included in “Asian Post”, the English language section within the Urdu Post (June 21, 2018).
As previously mentioned, Rizwan Cheema was drafted by Winnipeg Hawks for the GT20 Canada, Cecil Pervez was drafted by Montreal Tigers and Satsimranjit Dhindsa was drafted by Edmonton Royals.
So “IT’S ON” for the Global T20 Canada starting this Thursday afternoon.
Eddie Norfolk