By: Robby Frankel
If you’re in, you’re out.
Confusing, yes, but often true of the lingo in the sport of cricket, so count on much of this verbiage when the International Cricket Conference lands at Assiniboine Park for the Americas Under-15 Northern Division tournament beginning Monday.
The tournament features only three teams: Canada, USA and Bermuda, and although cricket may seem foreign to our snowy peaks and wide open spaces, Team Canada, is in fact, the two-time defending champion.
“People are often surprised to hear this,” said John Lovelace, the vice-president of the Manitoba Cricket Association. “But we have some standout talent on this team and we’ve won the last two tournaments.”
Each team is comprised of a 15-man roster plus a coach, and as Lovelace explains, based on Canada’s immigration patterns, it should be no shock that we regularly beat up on our neighbour to the south and perennially put forth a competitive squad.
“Cricket is largely an immigrant sport,” said Lovelace. “Most of the talent comes from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and other places in the region. So based on that, it should be no surprise Canada manages to put forth strong teams. We live in a very multicultural country.”

It should also be no surprise then, that nine of the 15 team members hail from Ontario, based on Toronto’s status as the most diverse city in the world.
That said, however, Manitoba did manage to crack the roster. Sarbjot Singh, a 14-year-old who moved to Winnipeg from India with his family three years ago, will be out there representing the red and white.
“I’m really nervous for next week,” Singh said. “My family is coming to watch, and Canada has won the tournament the past couple years. That puts more pressure on me, I think.”
Not to stress Singh out even more, but the tournament is also a qualifying event for the 2012 International Cricket Conference U-15 World Cup tournament, where only the top team from each division will earn a trip. Next week, it’s win or stay home.
“This is the first time I’ve played international cricket,” said Singh. “But we are ready. We practise every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and then play a game on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s a lot of training.”
If the four hours of each practice sounds lengthy, perhaps the sport of cricket isn’t for you. As Lovelace explained, there’s a reason each team will be playing only one game per day at the tournament.
“This is what is called a 40-over tournament,” he explained. “Each over takes about four minutes to play, and each team has 40 of them. So there are 80 overs in a complete game, which usually takes over five hours to play.”
That’s without commercials.
If you decide to head to the field to catch the action, you must of course bring with you the basic terminology, and while cricket may sound a lot like baseball (innings, outs, and umpires), there are two common mistakes that make every wicket-keeper cringe:
Despite holding a wood paddle and striking a ball out of mid-air, those players are not referred to as batters; rather, they are batsmen. And despite throwing the ball to a batsman, those players are not pitchers or lobbers; they’re bowlers.
Singh, who is entering Grade 9 at Sisler High School this fall, is a batsman, and he hopes that is all he’ll ever be.
“I’ve been playing cricket since I was seven or eight years old,” Singh said. “But since coming and playing with Manitoba Cricket Association, it’s become my dream. Cricket is what I want to do for my career.”
The tournament takes the form of a double round-robin, where each of the three teams is guaranteed to play four games. The winner of each game is awarded two points, and the team with the most points at the end of the four games will qualify for the 2012 World Cup.
All games begin at 10:30 a.m. at Assiniboine Park’s cricket field, and Singh and the rest of Team Canada take on USA in the opening match on Monday, before playing Bermuda on Tuesday.
Canada then gets a bye on Wednesday before playing each team once more Thursday and Friday.
robby.frankel@freepress.mb.ca