Eddie Norfolk
The Atlantic T20 cricket championship, played last weekend (July 6th thru 8th) on Prince Edward Island (PEI), must have provided something of a boost for the local economy, especially around the capital, Charlottetown. The event brought together provincial representative squads from New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and, defending champion, Quebec. Quebec’s team is based on cricket in Montreal and had gone undefeated in the 2011 round-robin championship. A picture of two large taxis arriving at the newly renovated Tea Hill Park cricket ground in Stratford, PEI, during some early morning mist and fog serves on Saturday (July 7th ) as an example of the some extra cashflow provided by the tournament to the local economy.

The taxis had come to the ground from the base hotel for the Atlantic T20 tournament, The Best Western Hotel in Charlottetown. The four visiting provincial teams and officials helped boost the takings for that hotel, which had an advertising banner at the ground mentioning support for sporting events on PEI. Perhaps some of the rooms occupied by the cricketers would have been empty if the Atlantic T20 had not taken place. So there was a boost for the hotel’s takings. There was also an advertising sign for the Best Western Hotel at the ground, reflecting support the hotel provides for sport on Prince Edward Island.
The players needed food each day in the morning and after play had ended. Breakfast will have been at the hotel, but evening meals were potentially bought elsewhere.

There was a reception for the tournament on the Saturday night at the Best Western, hosted by the PEI Cricket board. This provided an opportunity for a meet and greet, away from the bustle of activities at the cricket ground.

The PEI Cricket Association provided free lunch at the ground for the teams, officials and spectators. The “Three Slips and a Gulley” canteen had food and drink available, as well as souvenir PEI cricket shirts. This facility was also operated by the cricket association and was a significant improvement on some of the limited, if any, refreshment facilities at some of the parks and grounds used in, for example, the Greater Toronto and Montreal areas that I have visited.

Touring Spectators next time?

Perhaps by the time the next Atlantic T20 is hosted in PEI, there will be greater visibility for cricket on the island, and throughout the neighbouring maritime provinces which could result in a boost for hotels and the food services sector brought about by visiting cricket spectators.

Some of the players and officials came by car, but others flew to the Charlottetown airport. So some income was derived from road tolls for use of the Confederation Bridge that links PEI to New Brunswick.

It was announced during the reception evening that Newfoundland and Labrador is to host the Atlantic T20 in 2013. So the St John’s area could gain a similar economic boost from cricket next year, assuming the event goes ahead in that part of the Maritimes.

Broader Potential

There is the broader potential for club teams to visit from other countries to play on PEI, and potentially at other centres around the Maritime provinces. Exposure to visiting international cricket clubs would not only provide economic gains for the local economy in the Maritimes, but could help improve the standard of cricket. A standard which was agreed to have improved significantly in the last three or so years.

Cricket in the Maritimes is evolving from working together between the different provincial cricketing bodies. There is a separate 50-over inter-provincial tournament in progress but locally there are efforts to promote the game to youngsters and some efforts to bring in non-cricketers so the number of players might increase and, at the same time, embrace the broad community. Efforts driven by, at this time, a relatively small number of people in the eastern most provinces of Canada. Efforts which deserve, and which should receive, help from the “mainstream” cricketing bodies in Canada, including support on the ground in the promotion and reporting of events like the Atlantic T20.

The Atlantic T20 could do with scores being sent out to local media contacts each day consistent with reporting deadlines. Some of the deadlines might mean the last game of the day, such as the fourth match on Saturday, could not be included in a results summary where the deadline for a newspaper to receive community sports news was something like 5pm-7pm. But there were three completed games, and the standings could support a brief couple of paragraphs of highlights and summary scores plus a list of matches for the next day or the remainder of the tournament.

Getting news out on time to local media in the area could prompt follow-up and, potentially, a feature article or two about the event. It might also tempt sports reporters to attend future Atlantic T20 events, at which point one would need to be producing copies of completed scorecards, after each match, plus teamlists to help the journalists report on the event.

A company might be found to sponsor a results board at the ground where news of each match could be posted, as soon as possible after each match concludes. But, sadly, this step tends not to exist at events run in the more “mature” and “established” centres of Canadian cricket, headed by the Toronto area. It was not evidenced at the Scotiabank National T20 Championship at King City. It was not evidenced at the 2009 ICC Under-19 Global Qualifying tournament for the junior Cricket World Cup.

So the rest of the local (i.e. Canadian) cricket market tends to reflect the standards of the national governing body. If those standards are not very high, then the game does not obtain the media exposure that improvements on the playing side of the game could support. At least most of Canada’s cricketing pilgrims to Scotland managed to play one game.

Next home game for Canada? Ah….possibly the Canada Select XI v the MCC tourists in Toronto? But the Canadian Under-18’s are active in Florida against Bermuda and the USA, and the CIMA Toronto Mayor’s XI have, I believe, gone off to play in and around the London, England area. One website suggests the Auty Cup, between Canada and the USA, might take place in Florida later in the year.

At least the PEI Cricket Association’s Thwack-a-Thon was being publicized locally in an events newspaper. There were copies at the PEI tourist board representation at the Charlottetown Airport, along with tourist guides and maps. The “Great PEI Thwack-a-Thon” is on July 21st at the Tea Hill Park ground in Stratford, PEI, starting at 1pm. Some people in the New England version of Boston once staged a tea party to try and seek change for the better.

Still, according to one “Thwack-a-thon” advert , “You don’t have to be batty to love cricket!” – but, in Canada, it helps if you have a certain level of tolerance and patience. “Canadian cricket – Yours to Discover”. Who knows, perhaps the Ontario Tourist people picked up the “Yours to Discover” idea from trying to find out about cricket in the province a few years ago ? The Quebec tourist folks possibly go back to the thin knowledge of the first game of cricket in Canada for their motto of “Je me souviens”. But, perhaps not.

Eddie Norfolk

PS: A review of photographic evidence for the Newfoundland and Labrador v Prince Edward Island game indicates Newfoundland and Labrador lost seven wickets and not the originally reported nine wickets. This was match number two of the 2012 Atlantic T20 event.