On the way to Thursday’s World Cricket League match at Maple Leaf Cricket Club between Canada and the Netherlands, I looked at the standings for the senior divisions in the Toronto and District Cricket League. It seemed that the highest proportion of matches rained-out in the overall senior setup were in the Elite Division. A situation not necessarily good for those players who need to be involved in on-going high quality play in order to build for matches on the international stage. A review of the standings as of early September 1, 2013 confirmed this initial analysis.

Islanders, for example, are currently (Sunday morning, September 1) top of the Elite Conference 1 division with with 54 points gained from 7 wins, 3 losses and 4 games rained out. Islanders have therefore had four of fourteen matches rained-out and have two games to play. Vikings, who are two points behind Islanders with four games remaining, have had three rained-out games out of twelve. Brampton Masters, in third place with 51 points, won seven matches but had three rain-outs in ten games, with a further six games to be played or scores finalized then included in the standings.
Two of the six teams in Elite Conference 1 have had four rain-outs (Islanders and Victoria Park) while each of the Division’s other three teams had los three games to rain-outs. Elite Conference 2 has a slightly better proportion of games played compared to rain-outs with two teams having two games rained-out (Toronto CC and Mississauga Ramblers) and the other four teams each having three rain-outs each.
Six of eighteen teams in the Premier Division have only had one match rained-out, six have two rain-outs and six teams have had three rain-outs. The First Division (18 teams) has a range of rain outs between no games rained out (Centurions) and three games rained out. In the Second Division (18 teams) six teams have not had a rain-out, so far, while one club (West Indians) has had four rain outs in the course of twelve games.
The most rain-out games for the nine teams in the Barber Conference of Division Three is one game. The nine teams in the Burke Conference of Division Three have a range of rain-outs between none and two, which is much better than in the Elite Division. Only two of the eighteen teams in the Fourth Division had had two rain-outs.
There is a case from a cricketing perspective for considering if rain-out games in the Elite Division should be re-arranged, if possible, as those Elite players seeking a place in the Canadian national side, or for a representative team beyond Canada, would, presumably, wish to play as much cricket as possible. Perhaps some Elite Division players, if not certain teams, might wish to have more games per season for similar reasons.
But, at present, a higher proportion of Elite Division games have ended in the “rain-out” column in 2013 than the proportion of “rain-outs” in the Premier through Fourth Divisions. In fairness, it may be better to re-consider the situation when all regular season games, and the playoffs, have been completed. (Eddie Norfolk)