Some time on Monday (April 30), Cricket Canada might spark to life and triumphantly proclaim how the Canadian women\u2019s national team won the ICC Americas T20 tournament last Saturday. Possibly the same photo that sits on the ICC America\u2019s website of the Canadian squad, each with a winners medal will appear to emphasise this triumph. But the near silence of the lambs from Canada\u2019s cricketing leadership does not inspire confidence that cricket\u2019s potential will be realized any time soon in this country. <\/p>\n
Poor little lambs sometimes lose their way and go astray. Some may feel left out, just like a stranger in paradise. But it is more serious when the whole team\u2019s effort is left in the home publicity market as \u201cA Stranger in Paradise.\u201d Yes, some things are, overall, a little better on the Canadian cricket reporting trail at an official level than in 2005 or so, but there is plenty of scope for improvement.
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\nLack of funding and time for women\u2019s cricket saw the Canadian women lose a World Cup Qualifying series to Bermuda to decide the ICC Americas participant. Canada won the first ICC Americas women\u2019s tournament staged at King City, Ontario, in 2007. <\/p>\n
The team\u2019s first tour overseas in 2008 to Trinidad and Tobago seemed, from a distance, not to capture the hearts and minds of the then Canadian cricket leadership. It seemed hardly the way to launch a sponsorship relationship by not reporting on the first national team tour, but what would I know about management and communications, except for helping to get some publicity for the T&T -Canada series down in Trinidad and Tobago. Canada won the 2009 ICC Americas tournament down in Florida, but the USA won the 2010 ICC Americas World Cup Qualifying event hosted at King City. <\/p>\n
But the trumpets have not sounded from sea to shining seas in Canada on the official governing body of Canadian cricket\u2019s website, as of around 2am Toronto time on Monday, to proclaim Saturday\u2019s triumph in the Cayman Islands. I did hear the sound of \u201cThe Last Post\u201d on Sunday at a Canadian Naval memorial service in Hamilton (Ontario) to remembered the sinking of HMCS Athabaskan in the Bay of Biscay during World War II on April 29th, 1944. The memories are still tough for some of the survivors, especially some of whom ended up in German prisoner of war camps, their families and friends. <\/p>\n
It is only a few weeks since the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the \u201cunsinkable\u201d Titanic was commemorated. Grand ideas, overconfident statements and reality proved more than a bit off the mark back in 1912. Our modern thinking world has too many who think that by changing a name, or having a pretty logo (or changing an existing one), or adopting a buzzword or two – a mission statement – that magic happens and a dead duck becomes a beautiful swan, a soaring eagle, or a pioneer ski jumping eagle for an otherwise ski-jumperless country. <\/p>\n
But we need more than a few seconds in an occasional one minute round-up sports reel to build Canadian cricket, although Canada\u2019s cricket sponsors probably would have liked even a few seconds of live news from the ICC Americas championship. Some kind of return from the beneficiaries of the sponsorship money. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, we have had a change of President. The incoming one paid tribute to the outgoing one for managing to sort out some bits and bobs that allow Olympic sport recognition within Canada, which at the broader, global level could prove interesting as Pepsi (ICC global cricket sponsor) becomes Coca Cola (Olympic Committee sponsor), other things being equal, for the duration of an Olympic games a few years down the road, river or hill. A meeting of two corporate strangers in paradise?<\/p>\n
At some stage there will be another Americas World Cup women\u2019s qualifying event, for which we must hope the team has a proper chance to prepare. I did notice that Cliff Cox was posthumously given an award for his efforts over many years for Canadian cricket. The 1953 Broadway hit musical \u201cKismet\u201d brought an award in 1954 (a \u201cTony award\u201d) for one of the contributing composers, Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin. Some of his music was \u201cborrowed\u201d, arranged or transformed, in one case to become the song \u201cA Stranger in Paradise.\u201d <\/p>\n
Borodin\u2019s mainline work was as a chemist and physician. Music played second fiddle, so to speak. He won a US theatre award in 1954, but he died in February 1887. So he won\u2019t have made much money from the success of \u201cKismet\u201d. At least he was remembered. <\/p>\n
But in order to be remembered he must have done something to impress others during his life, and left some kind of message. Indeed, his musical approach was adopted by some other composers. But Canadian cricket needs some composers to put out the cricketing message in a timely manner to publicize the game, especially the overall and individual scores, to transpose the work in the middle into a living record. And to blow the trumpet regardless of success or failure at the team level. A subdued, or muted trumpet, in defeat, although opponents quality efforts might be worthy of trumpeted praise. Sometimes a touch mute when winning. Sometimes it is right to loudly let the trumpet bray. Tantantara, zing boom! <\/p>\n
Still, news of Canada\u2019s win possibly made it from sea to shining sea around Grand Cayman, the biggest of the three Cayman Islands on Saturday night. It\u2019s not so far, and not so high above ground level, from sea to sea in Grand Cayman. I have seen one Cayman Islands FA Cup Final and played a round of golf using the Cayman golf ball in the past, during a brief working visit. One day I\u2019ll have to return to see some cricket. And one day, Canadian cricket\u2019s leadership might sort out the details to allow ground and facility expansions and improvements to be made and maintained. Planning and development of resources. It involves communication at each and every step of the road or voyage. <\/p>\n
The road may be long and potholed in the early stages. The seas might be choppy. The sea and wind may be still. Just like still life in a dead duck. But out in the middle, if you make a duck, you aim for a better showing next time around, although in cricket a superb delivery that leads to a duck might be worthy of praise. Although if someone is bowling some nasty bouncers, it can be an idea to duck. But if the wicket is really bad, the ball might skid along the ground, especially if playing on a cowfield, while you duck. Then tell the game\u2019s local leadership about the need for ground improvements, and if you are one of those leaders….it may be time for you to take action. Spread the word, perhaps. Just like the buzzwords suggest on the home page, or \u201cStart spreading the news\u201d as the song goes, preferably on the ground and through the airwaves across Canada, not just in paradise. <\/p>\n
PS The photo of the winning Canadian women\u2019s squad has made it to the Cricket Canada website, but no story of this success blasts out from the web sites home page. Perhaps it is alive in twitter land. <\/p>\n
The missing run from the Argentina-Canada game last Friday was a single off the bat by Argentina\u2019s Mercedes Esperon. So 23 runs from the bat plus one bye gives 24 for six wickets in 5 overs. Canada made 35 for four wickets in 5 overs to win by 11 runs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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