North Albion Collegiate Institute (CI) won the Toronto final of the CIMA Mayor’s Boys High School Cricket Tournament on Friday (May 24) thanks to a 40 run win against Woburn CI. North Albion had previously beaten Emery CI in the “western” Toronto playoffs and on Friday Woburn advanced to the Toronto final after a seven wicket win against David and Mary Thomson.

Woburn restricted David and Mary Thomson to 46 for six wickets from twelve overs. Amir top-scored with 14 for David and Mary Thomson. Rahil Gandhi made 12 as Woburn replied with a winning 47 for four wickets after 10.5 overs at Sunnybrook Park, Toronto.
Keyur Patel (26 runs) and Prasann Panya (21) provided strength in the middle order batting for North Albion, after three early wickets had fallen in the Toronto Boys High School final. These contributions lead North Albion to a total of 76 for six wickets after the alloted twelve overs.
North Albion captain Saajan Patel took two early Woburn wickets and the innings was never able to steer a course to recovery as Dhruv Patel and Prasaan Pandya combined for a further five wickets. Woburn, a power-house in Toronto District Schools Cricket in recent years, was eventually bowled out for 36 runs after 11.3 overs. So, as previously mentioned, North Albion won by 40 runs.
The line-up for the inaugural CIMA Mayors’/CIBC Trophy Greater Toronto Area Boys High School playoffs this coming Saturday (June 1, 2013) at Sunnybrook Park is now compete and comprises: Bur Oak (Markham champions); North Albion (Toronto champions); North Park (Brampton champions); and Stephen Lewis (Mississauga champions).
The CIBC Trophy also includes competitions for Girls High Schools and Boys Middle Schools. As mentioned at the Mississauga Boys High Schools qualifying tournament, CIBC in addition to being the lead financial sponsor in this CIMA GTA School Cricket tournament, also provided sponsorship in Canada for the TV coverage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which concluded on Sunday (May 26, 2013) with a 23 run win for the Mumbai Indians against the Chennai Super Kings.
So, if timing is everything, the IPL has helped set the stage for this coming Saturday’s CIMA Mayors/CIBC Trophy Greater Toronto Area schools cricketing action at Sunnybrook Park.

Eddie Norfolk