The opening day of the Under-15 Kings Cup indoor cricket tournament saw two teams win twice and produced one tie from the six games played in the fast-paced eight-a-side format. The eight players on each team batted as four pairs of batter who stayed together during four overs with five runs being deducted each time a batter was out. Each player had to bowl two overs during the fielding phase of the game.

Canadian School of Cricket team 2 scored 120 runs (16 overs) in beating Markham Cricket Academy team 2, who ended on 56 runs. Canadian SC T2 followed up with a win against Durham Cricket Academy. The third pair of batters for Markham CA team 2 were out a few times against Canadian SC T2, so their four-over partnership counted as -13 (minus 13) runs. Markham’s fourth pair rallied by adding 33 runs to the team’s total, but Canadian SC innings saw contributions of 35, 33 and 34 from the first three pairs contribute 35, 33 and 34 plus a useful 18 from the fourth pair.
Canadian SC T2 scored 77 (16 overs) against Durham CA, who made 55. The first and third pairs of batters had partnerships worth 37 and 33 for Canadian SC while the same pairs for Durham made 24 and 20.
Durham CA scored 120 then limited Markham CA T2 to 43 in the opening game of the tournament.
Ceylon Cricket Academy also won both games playing later in the day. Ceylon CA beat the Invitational Girls by 58 runs to 38, then reached 77 against Canadian School of Cricket team 1 thanks to a partnership of 49 by the fourth pair of batters.
The game between the Invitational Girls and Canadian SC T1 was tied after each side ended with 69 runs.
2015 Kings Cup Under-15 – Day 2 Update
Oakville Cricket Academy had a successful morning on Sunday (Feb 8, 2015) at the 2015 Kings Cup Under-15 tournament at the Sorkkam Indoor Cricket Centre, Toronto beating Markham Cricket Academy Team 1 and followed with a win against Canadian Cricket School Team 3. The third game of the day between Markham CA Team 1 and Canadian CS Team 3 took place later in the day after the facility had been used for a regularly scheduled baseball winter training session. Scores from that game will follow later, as will news of the pairings for next Saturday’s quarter-final games.
Oakville CA scored 67 against Markham CA Team 1 thanks to the fourth batting pair adding a productive 40 runs from 4 overs that featured one or two runs from almost every ball and neither batter being out. The earlier batting pairs had added net contributions of 12 runs (3 outs), 14 runs (4 outs) and 1 run (4 outs) after deducting 5 runs for each “out”, dismissal or “fall of wicket”.
Markham CA T1 began well with 29 (no outs) from the first pair and were well set when the second pair added 19 (2 outs). There was plenty of scoring action when the third pair batted with few dot balls, six outs and plenty of runs from the other balls but successful bowling and fielding in recording six outs meant the running total went down by 6 runs. This setup an interesting challenge for the last batting pair, but four outs in this closing phase of the game gave Oakville the win by 67 runs to 52. The last pair had added 10 runs to the total despite the deduction of 20 runs for the four outs.
Oakville CA then made 100 against Canadian Cricket School Team 3 with contributions of 40 (1 out), 15 (3 outs), 11 (3 outs) and 34 (1 out) from the four pairs of batters. The first three pairs of Canadian CS Team 3 batters put 62 runs on the board to setup an interesting closing four overs, but a couple of well bowled overs put the pressure on the last pair and Oakville won the game.
The last four overs included what would, in normal cricket, have been a maiden over with no runs scored. But under the rules of this indoor tournament the over included two outs as a penalty for failing to score from three consecutive balls. Really this was a “learning curve” over for the batsmen who were probably playing under these rules for the first time. The striker did “the normal thing” for outdoor cricket of not running when beaten outside the off-stump on most of the balls he faced.
But there was no wicketkeeper standing behind the stumps (some teams used one at times) and to complete one run only needed some 4 or 5 strides from the taller batters; the non-striker stands behind the runners line that is well down the pitch.
The batter facing the bowling was quite tall and went down the pitch on some balls during this over. When the ball beat the bat, he did the “normal thing” of turning back to make sure he regained his ground quickly – to try and stop being stumped as might happen in a normal cricket game. But in this type of game, if he had kept going forward to the red-line or runner line where the non-striker was positioned, the batter would have made his ground safely as there was no wicketkeeper, indeed there was no fielder – who could have thrown the ball to the bowlers end to
run out the striker.
Once you have played a game or two, then the thinking would begin to change, including the thinking of the non-striker. If there is nobody behind the stumps and the striker is beaten by the ball, specially if the striker has taken one or more strides down the pitch, if the non-striker has already moved one step down the pitch then there a quick 3-4 strides should see the non-striker to safety and a run could be scored when the striker misses the ball. The closest fielder would have to take 3 or so strides to pick up the ball (after realizing where the ball ended up) and then hit the stumps with the ball. So with no wicketkeeper or slip behind the stumps, a swing and a miss could bring a quick single….unless the striker is bowled.
Adapting the thinking and actions needed for batting, bowling and fielding in this indoor format can be good for improving players mental and playing skills. The players then have to adopt the proper thinking in future games to the type of game they are playing, indoors or outdoors. Batsmen can improve communication skills between striker and non-striker for both indoor and outdoor games from this indoor experience. But when playing normal outdoor cricket it will take more than a quick four or five strides to successfully complete a run.
Some of the batters have realized that using the wrists to steer the ball to areas where there are no fielders can keep the scoreboard ticking along. Some of the fielders have begun to realize a quick underarm throw from close-range may produce a run out that could not be made if you pull your arm back to add some power to the throw.
So, lots of opportunities for some adapting playing skills and new thinking are coming from this version of indoor cricket for the players and coaches.
It should also be realized that those who are umpiring have also had to adjust to the specific rules of this event and to what they can actually see as players scramble around in different directions.
A summary of the scoring from this weekend’s nine games will be provided during the course of this week, together with news of which teams will meet in Saturday’s quarter-final matches. Some technical differences in datafile formats and/or tiredness have resulted in the scores from the last two games on Sunday being incomplete for the morning game, although the basic result is known, and missing for the last game.
At some point, we should end up with “pretty” versions of the scores for all games with proper names of batters, bowlers and fielders, umpires, scorers and tournament helpers. That might not happen until all the players appearing in team photos taken on Saturday and Sunday have been identified and matched to the computer scoring database.
The big picture view is that the tournament is up and running with nine participating teams with potential for more events in the future in the bid to develop Canadian cricketers. (EN)