Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

For discussion of all aspects of Canadian cricket
ray
Posts: 720
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:46 am
Location: Canada

Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by ray » Tue Dec 24, 2019 11:01 am

With Cricket Canada President seeming more willing to divulge information, perhaps this post to summarize interviews with him, other Board members and players may be of interest.

Interview with President Ranjit Saini by Sports Trends:
http://www.canadacricket.com/?p=13130
Summary:
CC's Priorities: Youth and Women's cricket
To help bridge the gap between school cricket (often indoor) and hardball cricket, the President says CC is working to have a youth summer league established in some city for 2020 or 2021. It would allow for youth to learn the longer form of the game (as opposed to T20) and move into the hardball game.
Also since there have been disagreements between Women's cricket stakeholders, CC is discussing the possibility of taking over responsibility for the women's game (from of the provincial boards). Also discussing the creation of a "national league" for women.

Global T20 Canada:
CC's resource problem has been dealt with to a large extend because of association with GT20. Awareness of cricket is growing because of GT20. The tournament will feature an additional Canadian player in the XI per year, eventually reaching 6 Canadians. Training of Canadian players is part of GT20's responsibility so that quality is maintained.

WCL2 Namibia:
The President again defended CC's preparation for the 2019 World Cricket League D2 in Namibia. Sri Lanka was chosen to obtain matches against local opposition and because all Canadian players could travel there. He said he had spoken to several players regarding the failure.

Other items:
-Remuneration for Canadian players was mentioned - money for tournament participation and per diems.
-Good relationship with Cricket West Indies

Rebuttal to President Saini's comments:
Despite defending Canada's failure to obtain ODI status, the president never actually mentioned what had been learned about why the team failed.

He mentions the growth of cricket awareness due to GT20. However, CC's website continues to be inadequate in its information updates. It's social media presence is not that of an organization seeking to engage with the public.

In the discussion of player remuneration, the announced $30,000 player contracts to be provided by Bombay Sports is not mentioned. What happened to this?

timmyj51
Posts: 335
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:23 pm

Re: Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by timmyj51 » Thu Dec 26, 2019 10:39 am

Didn't listen to his entire blab, but I'd like to know where those 130K kids who he
claims have been introduced to cricket are. Also said they've hired some high power
firm to help with sponsorship. Have to see if that's not money down the rabbit hole.

ray
Posts: 720
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:46 am
Location: Canada

Re: Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by ray » Mon Dec 30, 2019 10:26 am

Interview with Ranjit Saini by Sportrends (December 29th)
http://www.canadacricket.com/?p=13143

Summary from Sportstrends:
SportsTrends Canada

- Demographics, Population and Challenges, Uniform Standards, Approved Academies Evaluation
- Competition, Retention of talent, Continual improvement
- The Challenge: Demographics, Population, and Challenges
- Uniform Standards, Approved Academies Evaluation
- Competition: Quality of competition
- Retention of talent,
- Continual Improvement
I will listen to this later and provide details.

timmyj51
Posts: 335
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:23 pm

Re: Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by timmyj51 » Mon Dec 30, 2019 10:38 am

The main challenge (really the ONLY challenge) facing Canada cricket not discussed at all:
How do you get the mainstream Canuck populace involved with the game? :shock: :shock:

ray
Posts: 720
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:46 am
Location: Canada

Re: Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by ray » Tue Dec 31, 2019 2:35 pm

Interview with Ranjit Saini by Sportrends (December 29th)
http://www.canadacricket.com/?p=13143
Again a wide-ranging interview with CC President, Ranjit Saini.

Summary:
"Demographics" : Canada does not currently have the numbers of juniors to supply a strong national team. Need to bring more players into game (increase awareness of sport).
Problems include 1) small cricket population 2) Not playing enough cricket or short version of game 3) Many players leave game (player retention low)
Solutions: Increase player retention, better coaching, grow game (awareness)

Academy : CC wants program to certify academies on voluntary basis-"in very near future". Certification would mean academy meets a transparent standard.

Competition : National team players need training against foreign players. Needs to be mandatory part of team training.

Sponsorships : Sponsorships dependent on viewership/eyeballs. Cricket current lacks product that attracts sufficient public interest to acquire corporate sponsors. It is hoped GT20 will change the sponsorship landscape.
Umpiring : Canadian international umpires must qualify through CWI (Regional Full Member)

Continuous improvement : Every new CC initiative is evaluated, refined, will add to the body of knowledge.

Over 50 cricket : Not under purview of CC. Not at official ICC competition.

Women's cricket : Discussions within CC on the matter ongoing. Hope's something concrete will be agreed by February.

Failure at WCL2 in Namibia : (1:24:00 of interview) Many opinions on what went wrong depending on who you ask. He will send draft document on matter to Board next week and hopes to release his thoughts soon thereafter. Saini says team showed ability to win. Nothing changed on the board. Answers lie with players, staff who were there. He made some pointed comments indicating some players were not fully committed.
New ICC eligibility criteria has helped some countries (Oman, UAE).

Next proposed topic of interview : Cricket Canada's teams in 2019

My comments in response to interview:
Many of questions posed of President (Women's cricket, obtaining Level 1 coaching and umpiring certification, actual action plans) could and should be answered by a better website.
Cricket Canada seems to still be at the discussion stage for many of their plans to move forward.

ray
Posts: 720
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:46 am
Location: Canada

Re: Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by ray » Sun Jan 12, 2020 3:33 pm

Interview with Ranjit Saini by Sportrends (January 12th, 2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOq384Qempc
Topic: Review of Canadian teams in 2019

Summary:
Senior Men's Team:
Major events: World Cricket League Division 2, ICC Global WT20 Qualifier
Re: WCL D2, Canada being edged out by decimal points. Very close to standard of top Associates with ODI status.
Changes in ICC eligibility rules have allowed some teams (UAE, Oman specifically mentioned) to move ahead based on very recent newcomers ("transient" workforce).

Inconsistency is a core issue for national team
[*] volume of high level domestic cricket is the problem.
[*] Training under pressure situations is essential to performance.
[*] Inadequate infrastructure (facilities) to support development of top players (ex: penetrating bowling).
[*] Fault lies in Canadian system not providing opportunities for high-level cricket.
[*] Environment required to provide proper levels of fitness, accuracy and consistency.
[*] 2 to 4 years required to put things in place including a first-class league.

Strategic Plan to improve Canadian cricket already exists but resources to implement it are lacking.
Cricket Canada's Annual budget is ~$1M

Canada needs to play T20s against stronger nations.

Womens cricket:
A new proposal for women's cricket already sent to board. It will now be sent to provincial members for discussion.

Men's U19 Team:
Two sponsors are supporting U19 team in preparation for World Cup. Monetary incentives are being provided for individuals based on surpassing certain milestones.

Other:
There will be "many more" sponsorships in 2020 due to exposure from GT20.

My comments in response to interview:
-Again no mention of $30K contracts for players mentioned in Toronto Sun article (https://torontosun.com/sports/other-spo ... -world-cup). There has to be real doubt this has materialized.
-It is true that resources to implement Strategic Plan were lacking in the past, but is that still true today? CC's 2018 financial statement showed a cash reserve of over $1M, most of which appears to have come from CC's GT20 fee. Assuming similar income from the 2019 GT20 (and allowing for the expense of preparation tours for the WCL2), there should be a considerable sum available to implement programs to address the identified deficiencies in the Canadian men's game and create a women's cricket program.

ray
Posts: 720
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:46 am
Location: Canada

Re: Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by ray » Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:46 pm

Interview with former national team coach, Pubudu Dassanakaye (PD), by Devesh Shankar (January 10, 2020?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlvAfky23Yc

Summary:
on National Team
Dassanayake says Canada currently have better talent than Nepal and USA.
Even in losing, team has to fight hard to maintain a competitive run rate.

on 2011 World Cup
PD says his plan was to bring more youth into the team after qualification for 2011 WC.
At the 2011 WC he had disagreement with CC which led to him leaving team.

on pursuing ODI status
* PD said he is willing to help Canada in some capacity.
* CC must maintain team playing in tournaments between ICC tournaments since current ODI status teams are playing frequently
* PD Believes Canada needs:
- interprovincial tournament to keep players engaged and identify talent
- a HP program throughout year with at least top 25 players (on contract) to maintain fitness, training.
- players need to play overseas in winter due to short Canadian domestic season.
- Canada need full time coach to plan and prepare 2 years in advance for big tournament, not 3 months ahead.

My comments on interview:
While Dassanayake may be angling for his old job by appearing on this show he is not wrong in his assessments, he is available and CC does not seem to have named a coach, so ...

Victorian
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:33 pm

Re: Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by Victorian » Mon Jan 20, 2020 4:15 pm

I finally got around to listening to the first interview
(Dec. 24). If we complain there's no communication, we should listen when there IS communication.

I am aware that there are selectors present at regional T20s but I never heard about selection to a national championship!

There has to be a balance between grassroots development and national team preparation.
Is Bombay co. developing players? Where? How?
Is there an ongoing development team? According to Saini the u19s are supposed to aspire to be selected to that team.
If school players are going to continue in the sport, they will need coaches. I don't know of any coaching certification in Canada.
I'll wait to hear about two development officers - one for youth and one for women.

FB and Twitter are free. Outreach to get eyeballs through these platforms is not constrained by budgetary priorities.

The cricket season in Vancouver and Victoria is six months. Of course it's cheaper to have a camp in Toronto but Vancouver could be used to good benefit.

JSMunn
Site Admin
Posts: 38
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 7:36 am

Re: Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by JSMunn » Mon Jan 20, 2020 6:44 pm

We all owe a debt of thanks to Ray for summarizing these interviews for us- much appreciated.

Victorian
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:33 pm

Re: Interviews of CC Board, Players, etc.

Post by Victorian » Tue Jan 21, 2020 12:23 am

My thoughts about Saini's 2nd interview (Dec. 29).

The reason to have an Assoc. of Cricket Officials is to help show the ICC that the game is growing in Canada, not to have Canadians officiating ODIs. Also, I guess, national standards. No mention of scorers :(

I do not accept Saini's position on the u19s. True, there are not as many players as Pakistan, but all of the Pakistan players do not live in Karachi. There is not an effective scouting, selecting system to discover players from anywhere in the country.
He said to get more good players, you have to have winning national teams. Not true! You need to have regular competitions and tryouts.
Saini said you need to have consistency of performance in players. Yeah but...where do they provide this consistency? What opportunities are there?
I think age groups need games not big competitions.
He says there is not much interest in coaching certification. I know that there is in Vancouver and Victoria but, so far, no help from CC.

Post Reply