The York Region Athletic Association’s Tier 1 outdoor cricket season opened on Tuesday (24 September 2019) when three of four school teams won at least one game and Father McGivney won twice to head the standings. Three more schools are scheduled to enter the round-robin phase of the competition on Thursday (26 Sept), including last year’s champions Maple High School and runner-up Middlefield CI. Bill Crothers SS is also scheduled to join the action on Thursday at McCowan Reservoir, Markham, Ontario.
Father McGivney began with an 18 run win against Bill Hoggarth SS, then beat Bur Oak SS in a game where McGivney scored 30 and Bur Oak 28 according to the basic scores published on the York Region Athletic Association’s (YRAA) website. Father McGiveny scored 78 runs against Bill Hoggarth who replied with 60. Bill Hoggarth went on to post 96 runs and beat Huron Heights (25 runs) by 71 runs in the second pair of games played on Tuesday. Huron Heights had performed better with the bat in the earlier game with Bur Oak but lost 62 to 61.
Last year’s champions, Maple High School, open this season against last year’s runner-up Middlefield CI in the first pair of games set for Thursday. Maple HS has done well in the last three seasons but lost to Middlefield in a 2011-2012 semi-final, according to a tweet that popped up in a search for news about YRAA cricket.
There was a drop in participating schools last year but numbers have risen to 7 competing schools this year, which is good to see. The semi-finals and final are scheduled for 16 October 2019. Let’s hope for good weather in the coming weeks, with best wishes to all the competing schools and those who support the game of cricket in York Region schools. (EN)