Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell told, during the morning’s welcoming ceremonies, how she had said “you don’t stop the game” after learning there had been an earlier start to the playing schedule. She was “very, very pleased to be here” and was willing to wait for the opening games to end. Building the base of cricketers in Brampton and the Greater Toronto Area was a core reason for the CIMA schools cricket tournament and for her support of the event from early meetings with CIMA Canada. “You are here to play the game,” emphasised Mayor Fennell addressing the various teams.

Mayor Fennell told how budgets had been worked out to develop an international standard cricket ground in Brampton at the Gore Meadow Community Centre. When she first became Mayor of Brampton there was no cricket ground in the city, but now there are over twenty cricket grounds in Brampton.

[Tournament note: The two grounds in Batsman Park used for this year’s Brampton and Mississauga city CIMA/CIBC Boys High School championships were opened in 2013.]

“Where is the best cricket ground in the world?” she asked the players, guests and crowd during the welcoming ceremonies. She hoped the answer in the future would be “Brampton.”

One young local cricketer was invited to the microphone to ensure Mayor Fennell could correct her pronunciation of the name “Sachin Tendulkar”; a player whose ability and success the attending youngsters should attempt to emulate, said the Mayor.

If you trace back a few years there are records of how Brampton had made some financial provisions for supporting the development of an international cricket ground. Some of Brampton’s plans may have originally been linked to the expected hosting by Canada of an Under-19 Cricket World Cup. But the proposal and event never came to fruition after the ICC gave the initial green light to Canada’s cricketing authorities in 2006.

I also seem to recall Brampton was projected as a possible venue for cricket as an exhibition sport in the next PanAm games, scheduled for the GTA next year. But, again, there was no timely driving force within Canadian and Ontario elected cricket officials to translate “potential” and “opportunity” into achievement.

There seemed to be a need to develop young players to represent Canada on the international stage as Canada was not listed in the participants for the next Cricket World Cup according to the representative from the Toronto District School Board during Saturday’s ceremonials.

Awards were presented to the winners of the different sections of the tournament in each of the participating cities, then play resumed in the qualifiers to decide the GTA Boys High Schools finalists. The Girls High Schools final began on the south pitch while the last of five Boys High Schools qualifying games was taking place on the north pitch. The Middle Schools GTA championship games followed on the north pitch.

Overview of the 2014 GTA Championships

The CIMA tournament allows some emphasis to be placed on the female side of GTA and Canadian, as well as on the Middle Schools tournament for younger boys.

Mississauga’s Father Michael Goetz Secondary School repeated a 2013 GTA Girls High Schools championship win against Toronto’s York Memorial Collegiate Institute but in 2014 it took a Super Over to decide the champion after a tied match.
Toronto’s J.S. Wordsworth Senior Public School won the round robin to decide the 2014 GTA Middle Schools champion with wins against Mississauga champions Erin Mills Centre Middle School and Brampton champions Beryl Ford Public School.
Toronto’s North Albion Collegiate Institute won the 2014 CIMA GTA Boys High Schools Cricket tournament beating Brampton’s North Park Secondary School in the final. North Park had been added to the four city champions competing on Saturday after a protest and review of the calculation of the fourth team for the Brampton City qualifier’s semi-finals.
The semi-finals of the Brampton City qualifier had three teams that automatically gained a semi-final place as the winner of one of the three groups. The fourth place was intended for the side with the best record and net run rate from the remaining teams.

A series of six-over per side games were played on Saturday morning to decide the two Finalists for the CIMA GTA Boys High Schools division as a result of North Park’s inclusion. Toronto Champions North Albion won both qualifying games, including a last ball win against North Park. The three other Boys High Schools city champions were left on the sidelines when the Final took place. Fletcher’s Meadow Secondary School won the 2014 Brampton championship, Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School took the honours in Markham, and Lincoln M. Alexander Secondary School won the Mississauga title.

Thanks during the Welcome

Thanks were given by several speakers to the players and to the teachers who helped to coach the players and support the tournament, as well as to the various volunteers and sponsors without whom the tournament would not exist. Martin Saxton, the current Chair of CIMA Canada took the opportunity to remind those present of “why we thank the sponsors”. He also thanked those on the various school boards, school athletic associations, CIMA volunteers, the leaders and coaches from the various schools and the participating players. (EN)