Eddie Norfolk writes:-
JB Masters win in the first Toronto and District Cricket Association Super Six 50-over championship game, Canada Under-17’s win in the ICC Americas Match Play Competition and a warm-up game for the RBC CIMA Toronto Mayor’s XI against Toronto Police gained print coverage this week. A preview of Canada Under-17’s involvement in the ICC Americas event and mention of the Under17 Canada Cup had appeared in South Asian Generation Next one week earlier.

Dalchand Bissoon wrote about JB Masters Super6 Championship win in the 50-over final against Mississauga Ramblers in “The Caribbean Camera” (July 28, 2016). The report notes “a brilliant undefeated century” from Varun Sehdev (109*) and “former Guyana all roundrounder scoring a valuable 67″ in Masters 286 all out. “Mississauga Ramblers, in reply, were skittled out for only 99 runs”. “R (Ravain)Yusuf top-scored with 28″, three Masters bowlers each picked up two wickets and “M (Mark) Montford took 3 wickets for 4 runs from 3 overs.” Mountford’s spell brought three of the last Ramblers four wickets, the last wicket fell to a catch in the deep off Saad bin Zafar.
Dalchand Bissoon relays the TDCA’s announcement that the Super 6 T20 Playoff Cup is to be named after Johnny Bujan who had been Sports Director of Brampton Masters until his recent death. Masters has been re-named JB Masters and the TDCA Super 6 T20 champions will be presented with the Johnny Bujan Memorial Cup.
The current issue of “The Caribbean Camera” (July 28, 2016) includes a report on Canada’s win in the ICC Americas Under-17 competition. “The Weekly Voice” (July 29, 2016) also reports on this “successful start on Canada’s road towards the next ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.”
Canadian captain Arslan Khan scored most runs (206 runs) and had the best batting average (68.67) in the ICC Americas competition. “Canadian spinners Rommel Shahzad (12 wickets at 5.17 runs per wicket) and Aran Pathmanathan (8 wickets at 9.00) placed first and second in the traditional bowling rankings.” The report in “The Caribbean Camera” also recognized the economy of most of Canada’s bowlers in this 50-overs a side competition.
“The Weekly Voice” (July 29, 2016) carried news and a photo of the Toronto Mayor’s youth cricket team’s preparations for the upcoming “Cricket Across the Pond” trip to Trinidad & Tobago. The Toronto Mayor’s XI played a 30-over game against Toronto Police at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club on July 19.
Hindi Abroad (July 29, 2016) included the photo of the Toronto Mayor’s XI and some supporting text in Hindi about this warm-up game against the Toronto Police.
The headline in “South Asian Generation Next” (July 28, 2016) proclaimed “Toronto Mayor’s Youth Cricket Team Vs. Toronto Police Cricket Team- a great success”. The story is supported by seven photos including the team captain’s shaking hands before the toss, and different versions of team photos with dignitaries. The attending dignitaries included acting Consul
General for Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Kivia Clarke, and the Chair of the Toronto Police Service Board, Mr. Andy Pringle.
The previous issue of “South Asian Generation Next” (July 21, 2016) had news of the Canada Under-17 squad that was to play USA and Bermuda at the Moosa Stadium, near Houston, Texas. The report highlighted the presence of two players who had played for Canada in this year’s ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh, Arslan Khan and Akash Gill and summarized the outcome of the 2016 Under-17 Canada Cup. The Cricket Council of Ontario hosted this U17 Canada Cup on behalf of Cricket Canada between July 4 and July 8.
“Asian Post”, an English language section in the current issue of the “Weekly Urdu Post” (July 28, 2016) also included a photo of the Toronto Mayor’s Youth cricket squad and a report about the “great success” of the game between the Mayor’s XI and Toronto Police XI at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club on July 29, 2016.
Possibly there was more coverage of these events with Canadian cricket content, or some news of other Canadian cricket activities, in some other newspapers in the last two weeks or in monthly print issues that may now be available. This round-up is based on my reviews of newspapers obtained on July 29 and 30 in Mississauga, Ontario.
The report about the Super Six 50-over final probably benefited from the publication of the scorecards for the two TDCA Super Six playoff games on the Toronto & District Cricket Association’s official website. I was certainly unaware of the outcome of the Toronto CC v Mississauga Ramblers playoff game until seeing Mississauga Ramblers in the field against JB Masters in the Super Six Final on July 17, 2016 at Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City.
Someone commented on how it was a good day for playing cricket. Possibly some more spectators would have turned up if the TDCA had confirmed overnight that the final was to take place on that Sunday. It became possible to take a York Regional Transit bus to the ground on a Sunday during the course of this summer, as I discovered when taking a quick look at the six teams in the Super Six during the last weekend of the 50-over Super Six regular season.
The TDCA Super Six teams are now playing the regular season phase of the T20 competition with the Johnny Bujan Memorial Cup as the prize for the winning team in the final of the T20 playoffs. News disclosed by the TDCA and reported in the current issue of “The Caribbean Camera”.
Some of the players in the “Cricket Across the Pond” Toronto Mayor’s XI played in the Greater Toronto Area CIMA Mayor’s School Cricket playoffs and were also members of Canada’s Under-17 squad in Houston. At least one of Canada’s 2016 U17 squad played in Sri Lanka for the 2015 Cricket Across the Pond Mayor’s XI, although various facts seem to fall into place at a later date. Information that would be useful to convey via the broad spectrum of media (print, radio, TV and social media) to existing sponsors, potential sponsors and even to provincial and national selectors.
It would, surely, be useful if scores were posted on scoreboards at grounds hosting what should be regarded as important cricket tournaments and games. I seem to recall that individual scores were updated at Maple Leaf CC during the 2009 ICC Under-19 Global Qualifier at least at the end of each over so teams, players and spectators had a reasonable feel for the progress of each game.
Eddie Norfolk