The latest games in cricket’s oldest international rivaly, games between the USA and Canada, pulled in above average coverage in a sampling of the Greater Toronto Area’s ethnic media. The 2013 Auty Cup series was previewed in at least the “Caribbean Times International” (July 25 – “Two Guyanese in Canada’s Auty Cup Squad”) and “Share” (July 25 – “Canada/U.S. cricket rivalry continues”). The outcome appeared in “Caribbean Times International” (August 1 – “Guyanese cricketer scores big for Canada in Auty Cup”), “The Caribbean Camera” (August 1 – “Canada retains Auty Cup”) and “The South Asian Observer” (August 2 – Canada retain Auty Cup by outplaying US team”).
Mention is given in some of the coverage of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) current visit to play Canada in early August, as well as the Netherlands visit later this month. It is useful to have advance publicity for matches as it increases potential for spectators to be aware and potentially attend so games may be transformed into events!
N. Balani (“The South Asian Observer) concluded, quite correctly in my opinion, “But most of all what is required is the support of the fans to come out and cheer our teams so that our players can feed off the energy of their well wishers. Here’s wishing out young talent on both sides of the border more opportunities to compete and improve the game!”
The report is supported by photos of the post-game presentation, a celebration of a fallen wicket and of the two teams, Canada and the USA.
Damodar Daesrath’s century against the USA in the 50-over international drew attention in game reports, as did Ruvindu Gunaskera’s run scoring achievements in the series. Daesrath told Ravendra Madholall of “Caribbean Times International” : “It feels really great to get a hundred for Canada more nicely on home turf. I just went out there and played to the best of my ability. The pitch was playing wonderfully well and I just wanted to make a big impact.” Jeremy Gordon’s “very economical” bowling in Sunday’s two T20 games with the USA was also mentioned in that report, which included a link that both players were in Caanda’s squad for the series with the UAE.
Canada Under-19’s qualification for the 2013 ICC U19 Cricket World Cup gained recent attention in, at least, “South Asian Focus” (July 25 – Canadian Under-19 cricket team qualifies for World Cup in UAE”), “South Asian Generation Next” (July 25 – “Cricket: Canada qualifies for 2014 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup ), “Indo Caribbean World” (July 24 – “Canada qualifies for 2014 ICC U19 CWC”), “Share” (July 18 – Canada Under-19 cricketers qualify for World Cup”) and “The Caribbean Camera” (July 18 – “Canada qualifies for ICC World U-19”)..
“South Asian Focus” picked up on success with the bat by Canadian U19 vice-captain Armaan Kapoor, who hit 64 against Bermuda and is a Brampton resident, as is Aniket Joshi. This item shows the potential that variations on a story could exist in different cities across Canada reflecting successes of, for example, tournament MVP Nikhil Dutta (Mississauga) and Trevor Manoosingh (Winnipeg). Ron Fanfair’s article in “Share” paid attention to Dutta’s batting and bowling achievements in the ICC Americas Under-19 Championship and relected that Canada has previously appear in the U19 CWC in 2002, 2004 and 2010.
Clearly the scope exists beyond the “ethnic media” market, but someone has to create the interest or pump out the stories and photos as games and tournaments conclude in order to meet whatever deadlines exist in order to have a chance of appearing in print.
Sometimes one success leads to future opportunities. A current example would be the Canadian Under-19’s recent America’s championship that results in an appearance in the ICC U19 CWC. But in the short-term there are potential links with the two squad members who went on the recent RBC CIMA Mayor’s tour to England and the inclusion of several of the Canadian squad in an ICC Americas U19 side due to play in the Caribbean, which brings potential for a “preview” and “post-event” stories.
In flicking through some of the pages and old excerpts, the August 6, 2009 issue of “South Asian Focus” included “Cheema looks forward to TJT matches” and “Kenya’s tour itinerary revised.”. Rizwan Cheema was happy to be a Gladiator entering the inaugural TJT Realty T20 league, which, so far, has proved to be the only edition of that effort by those particular sponsors to create a mid-week T20 league. The TJT Reality people had the notion that generating spectator interest was one of cricket’s needs in the Greater Toronto Area, as well as across Canada, which ties in with recent comments in “The South Asian Observer”.
Kenya’s 2009 trip to Canada had just been revised, but at least news of the revised dates appeared, as did news of the upcoming ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier that began on September 1, 2009 in the GTA. On Thursday (August 1, 2013), it was reckoned that the water level in front of the pavilion at Maple Leaf CC had been higher before one of the scheduled 2009 ODI’s with Kenya in 2009.
Still, the ICC Intercontinental Cup match between Canada and the UAE was eventually able to start on day 2 (Friday, August 2 )of the scheduled four days in this current UAE tour. It may be interesting to look back after this tour and consider if the crowds for the 50-over games were higher or lower than when Canada played the UAE in the 2001 ICC Trophy at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club. Hopefully the rain will stay away over the next week or so, although the odd burst of rain has fallen tonight in western parts of Toronto.
One bonus in 2013 compared with 2009 is the existence of the Rogers Community Channel TV coverage, that extends to live internet streaming on Sportsnet, but perhaps the 2009 ICC Global World Cup qualifier could have done with live streaming of all the games to the different participating nations? It might have build interest in that tournament, and one could look back to 2008 when some games in the inaugural Scotiabank National T20 Cricket Championship were covered by Rogers Community TV cameras. Broader coverage in various media forms and styles could be fruitful, at the end of the day – if not now – for cricket to progress in Canada.
It is correct to indicate “Cricket’s oldest international rivalry” has pulled in a certain amount of interest in the media, but not anywhere near as much as that in the series that most cricket followers might think of as cricket’s oldest international rivalry – the Ashes series between England and Australia. Greater coverage could result in more funding for Canadian cricket, with some of the funds going towards new drainage for the Maple Leaf Cricket Club, as one potential enhancement to cricketing infrastructure.

Eddie Norfolk