International cricket celebrities joined a cast of politicians, students and corporate sponsors Monday to mark the opening of a new cricket park in north Etobicoke.
International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket Hall of Fame member Wasim Akram and Indian Premier League player Sunil Joshi met with enthusiastic kids at Thackeray Park Cricket Ground at Kipling and Steeles avenues. The park, a former landfill, features an infield cricket pitch built to match ICC standards, practice net, and seating for more than 300 spectators.
“With the change of culture in this city we just find that this is one of the largest growing sports, and the city does not have a large inventory of cricket facilities,” said Kevin Bowser, manger of parks with the City of Toronto.
The project was a partnership project between the city, the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority, and Vaughan to address the needs of the community. North Etobicoke has three cricket parks so far, and the city is looking at a new site at West Humber Collegiate Institute.
“In this part of Toronto, cricket rivals basketball in terms of popularity as a team sport,” said Etobicoke North Councillor Vincent Crisanti.
Young cricket enthusiasts came out to learn a trick or two from the cricket celebrities, who told them they were “very very lucky” to have a site like this and urged them to utilize it well and make Canada proud. The team from Highfield Junior School boasted about their consecutive two-year championship win. Coach Khushwinder Rishi said the team is getting more and more competitive; 235 kids tried out this year for 15 spots on the team.
“Most of these kids are from South Asia…they love to watch [cricket] and love to play it. Next year is going to be very tough.”
This year the team won all six matches against other schools, despite being hampered by lack of proper practice space. The team has been enduring inside practices because of lack of space and uncooperative weather, and is very much looking forward to breaking in the new field.
“It’s not fun because every time you hit the ball it hits the wall and comes back,” said Vickram Reddy, 11, captain of the team.
Rishi plans to bring the team down at least once a week to practice.
Work on the park is ongoing, and future plans include a new irrigation system to keep a high-quality turf and a clubhouse with change rooms.
The park was funded by corporate stakeholders, donors form the community and the City of Toronto. Royal Bank of Canada attended in honour of its $25,000 donation to the park and announced it was donating new equipment to four nearby schools and community centres.