It is likely not a surprise to state that a number of players whose cricketing background is in the West Indies appeared in this weekend’s Toronto and District Elite Division playoff games. Some of those players from the Windies have played in the T&D for several years and have represented Canada internationally, such as Jeremy Gordon and Damodar Daesrath, to name but two. Others play as a designated “import” player in the league.
Some regular followers and insiders of the T&D are likely to know the “import” players backgrounds but the league website does not include links to other competitions, such as the West Indies regional competitions, Caribbean Premier League, international matches or even the Canadian National Cricket League.
Toss in the occasional difference in spelling between names on T&D scorecards and player records on sources such as Cricinfo and Cricket Archive and you might struggle to discover the playing career backgrounds for the likes of Darwin Christian and Jevon Searles. Changing these names to Derwin Christian and Javon Searles brings a bit more success.
Derwin Christian turns up as an experienced Guyana right-hand bat and wicketkeeper who has played a couple of T20 games for the West Indies. Javon Searles played for Red Steel in the Caribbean Premier League this summer, as did left-arm pacer Delorn Johnson who took picked up early wickets and caught one of the Centurions openers in Sunday’s playoff final.
Javon Searles comes from Barbados, and has played for West Indies Under-19’s and Barbados as well as Red Steel. Delorn Johnson has played for West Indies A and West Indies Under-19’s as well as the Windward Islands. Johnson was born in St Vincent according to one underlying source, but his place of birth was not stated in a second source.
Ryan Wiggins, who played for Centurions in Sunday’s final, has played for Barbados and Combined Campuses & Colleges in West Indies Regional competitions.
Those unfamiliar with turning up at the ground to see a game in Canada – even for major games, national championships and international games – may be surprised to learn that lists of players in each team are not often available for spectators.
Some players may not have numbers on their shirts, some do not have names and numbers on their shirts. Some may even change shirts between batting and bowling.
Reality at a ground in Canada is usually not the same as being spoon-fed with basic player identification and scoring information on television. Photocopying facilities may not exist, so photos of scorecards often become a source when manual scoring or even unlinked to the internet automated scoring systems are used to provide some of the scoring news on the likes of Canada Cricket Online.
It is sometimes necessary to try and add up individual runs or individual bowling figures to enhance available information from scorecards about a game…..or, sometimes, to work out the total runs for a team.
Individual batsman’s scores certainly made no appearance on the scoreboard used for the Elite Division Final on Sunday, but the scoreboard was updated quite well by local standards at the end of each over.
The scoring information about Sunday’s final that emerged during Monday morning on Canada Cricket Online came from photos of scorebooks, with names based on the official list of the two teams before the scorebook figures were transcribed onto what becomes the official TDCA scoresheet. It also emerged thanks to the webmaster who posted the news and the photo of Dhanuka Pathirana being bowled by Delorn Johnson a couple of balls after being solidly behind the line of the ball. A bit of extra fizz, perhaps, saw the end of Pathirana.
A different summary of the Elite playoffs may emerge through one or two different outlets in the next few days, but that is up to the relevant editor and the availability of space. The new report also needs to be compiled then distributed.
A broader range of still photos may emerge on some different websites or facebook pages over time, as might video footage without commentary. Some footage from the recent Mississauga Cricket Festival has appeared with the assistance of Ontario Cricket Academy and Club. Something I first noticed through the Brampton Masters facebook page.
Passing vehicles and trucks on the nearby highway provide an unusual form of commentary for the two games played under floodlights in that event. But, given time and some physical space to apply technology to available footage from those games, a commentary could be added, as could periodic clips of point-in-time summary scores for the end an over and for the fall of each wicket. The more people might learn a bit more about what was going on in those two games.
Eddie Norfolk