Despite the overnight rain, the CIMA/CIBC Toronto Girls High School championship went ahead on Tuesday (May 13) at G. Ross Lord Park. The sun came out during the afternoon and York Memorial Collegiate Institute (Won 2, Lost 1) beat West Humber C.I. (W 2, L 1) in the championship playoff. York Memorial’s Sayera Babur took three wickets for three runs from two overs and Dawn Nguyen took two for six, also from two overs, in West Humber’s 32 for seven wickets from six overs. York Memorial reached this target after 4.1 overs for the loss of two wickets.

C.W. Jefferys C.I. (W 2, L 1) were edged out of the playoff game on net run rate while George Harvey C.I. lost all three matches. The margins of victory in these six overs per side games can be misleading. George Harvey made 37/4 (6 ov) against West Humber who replied with 38/1 after six overs. A nine wicket win with no balls to spare! Allana Ballantyne scored 10 and Awni Kalkat took two wickets for 7 in the George Harvey innings.

York Memorial edged out George Harvey in another game that went the full twelve overs. George Harvey scored 32/0 (6 ov) in reply to York Memorial’s 33/1 ( 6 ov).

West Humber’s Alicia Despaigne registered the day’s highest individual score. She made 17 not out as West Humber reached a winning 42/1 (5.3 ov) in response to CW Jefferys 41/1 (6 ov).

It was a day when extras, or sundries as our Australian friends call them, made significant contributions to the scoring. There remain limited opportunities for women’s cricket in Canada and Tuesday may not have offered the most favourable of conditions for runs off the bat after the overnight Toronto rain.

But some are battling away to try and advance the cause. The game takes place on the field, not through mission statements by some recent Presidents of Cricket Canada (previously known as the Canadian Cricket Association) who have muttered about helping to build women’s cricket in Canada. Mutterings that reflect the International Cricket Council making policy statements that countries should advance the cause of women’s cricket.

The schedules for the day’s Girls High Schools and Boys High Schools play seemed to have dropped off the official website by the middle of Tuesday. So when the sun came out I continued to dig out weeds from my yard. So I missed the chance to see the action. Last year when sun had replaced the morning rain I turned up at Ross Lord Park in the hope of seeing the Toronto Girls High Schools playing. Last year the rain won and play was re-scheduled. This year the play went ahead. The day’s scorecards were posted to the CIMA Canada website, so information was available to produce an outline of the day’s play.

The outdoor cricket season tends to be short in most parts of Canada, as is the growing season for grass. In some dreams a domed cricket stadium with climate control so the grass keeps growing year round might provide a place that could house tournaments such as the CIMA/CIBC School Cricket Trophy.
But, dream on, as the operating costs, even for a day when the climate controls could be reduced to a minimum, would likely be rather high, notwithstanding the initial costs of design, planning permission and capital costs to development a stadium.

Now some basic, functional, portable electronic scoreboards that could provide the running total for the team batting, wickets lost, overs bowled and the opposition total (and possibly allow for the D/L par score) has potential to move local cricketing facilities forward. But the scoreboards might need to incorporate their own power supplies, as power connections do not tend to be readily available at various grounds across Canada.

The power supply could allow someone to perform electronic scoring that could drive the scoreboard totals and feed summary and detailed scoring to the internet, complete with sponsors and organizers advertisements. Toss in some extra wires and a video camera (or two with some more wires) and the game of cricket could gain more potential exposure in the Greater Toronto Area, across Canada and beyond Canada’s borders. Sports journalists could, potentially, monitor the play from remote locations, or even turn up at the grounds when the weather was kind. The day’s scores might appear in daily newspapers and on news reports on TV and radio.

Canadian cricket has to keep building one step or one brick at a time, or a reasonable number of steps and bricks at a time, in my opinion. Meanwhile, perhaps next year I will manage to see the Toronto Girls High Schools CIBC Trophy. But there are plenty more games scheduled in the Toronto and Greater Toronto Area CIMA/CIBC qualifiers in Brampton, Markham and Mississauga over the next two to three weeks before the finals at Dixie-Sandalwood Park, Brampton on Saturday May 31, 2014. York Memorial CI’s girls team booked a spot in those GTA playoffs; something the school’s boys team will not achieve after disappointing performances with the bat on Monday.

Eddie Norfolk