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CricInfo's Canadian Cricket Corner Dave Liverman - 3 August 2002
This is a hopefully the first of a new series, an informal round-up of cricket happenings in Canada to appear fortnightly - or even weekly if time and events permit. Most of the news here has been gleaned from the increasing number of club, league and other web sites devoted to cricket in Canada - it is impressive to see so many up-to-date sites for the various leagues. We'd welcome contributions for the next issue - please mail Dave Liverman with any news, pictures or announcements. We'd particualry appreciate volunteers to write short round-ups as the various leagues reach play-offs. National teams This is a very eventful period for Canadian cricket with representative squads in action at the under-15, under-19 and full international level. The Under-15 team has just competed in the first-ever Americas Under-15 tournament in Orlando, Florida. They had a mixed week, losing to eventual winners Bermuda by 10 wickets, and also to the Cayman Islands but beating the USA, and demolishing Argentina. Individual highlights include some fine bowling and batting by Umer Nawez (72 against the Caymans, 5-16 against Argentina), and Ryan Lall's 140 against Argentina. The Under-19 squad are in Jamaica, taking part in the West Indies Regional Under-19 competition. They face some strong opponents, struggling against Guyana in their first match, then meeting hosts Jamaica, and the Windward Islands. Larry Gomes is coaching the squad, and they will need all his advice and experience!
The national squad is facing off against West Indies A in the Toronto area, playing three one-day matches, and a 2 day match. The West Indies squad has just completed a very successful tour of England, and despite the withdrawal of Chris Gayle and Marlon Black, are formidable opponents. Canada got off to the best possible start with an emphatic 49 run win at Ajax, led by Ian Bilcliff's 73, and John Davison's 4 wickets.
Around the Country The eastern and western John Ross Robertson Trophies are contested between the top clubs in eastern and western Canada. The Eastern trophy was contested on July 20 and 21 between Centurions (Toronto and district Cricket Association, Gujurat (Quebec)., Sunrise CC (Southern Ontario Cricket Association) and Brantford CC (Hamilton and District) in the Waterloo- Kitchener area. Sunrise CC met Centurions in the final and emerged as champions. The Western trophy is up for grabs this weekend at Riley Park, Calgary, with hosts St. John's CC representing Alberta taking on Saskatoon on one semi –final and North Shore (BC) meeting Cavaliers of Calgary (a late replacement for Manitoba representative Winnipeg Juniors) in the other. Ontario The highly competitive Toronto and district leagues are as usual the centre of cricket activity in Canada. In the Premier Division, the Pompey conference is headed by Cavaliers, who are unbeaten this year, with Toronto CC in second place. The Ward Conference is topped by Victoria Park, with just a single loss this year, with last year's champions Centurions in 2nd place. Fazil Satteur is having a superb season with the bat, for Cavaliers making 471 runs in just 7 innings, and their bowling is led by Bram Kisson who is the leading wicket-taker in the league with 18 at just 7.33. Kholvad and National are in a tight battle for first in the Chappell Conference of Division 1, Overseas lead the Walker Conference. Asela Jayasinghe is the top run scorer in Division 1 with 334 in only 4 innings. Nazir Sheik of Kholvad leads wicket-takers with 17. Manitoba The Manitoba league is in a healthy state with 6 clubs contesting division 1, and 8 division 2. As of the end of July, Winnipeg Juniors led the league, having only lost once in 6 matches. In Division 2 the India XI have won all of their five matches to top the table. Alberta Calgary matched an easy win in the 3 day match on the Canada day weekend with a pair of emphatic wins in the one-day Inter City matches on July 20 and 21 in Calgary. Amjad Shazad (5-19) and Easan Sinnathamby (4-33) destroyed the Edmonton batting in the first match, and the Calgarians needs only 12.4 overs to reach a target of only 55. Calagary won the second match by 67 runs, captain Tatoo Seeblack (57) leading them to 203. Atta Warraich took 4/33 as Edmonton struggled to 137 all out, thanks to a good innings of 42 from Redoy batting at nine. Calgary League United CC have clinched first-place already, and Caribs locked up 2nd with a convincing win over defending champions St. John's. CanAsia will finish third, and defending champions St. John's slip to fourth. Caviliers took up the 5th first-division spot, and Glenmore CC Crown, Islanders, and Crescent Stars will contest Division 2. The addition of three new teams this year suggests cricket in Calgary is healthy indeed. Divisional play for all clubs starts Saturday August 10, 2002 Edmonton League Millwoods CC are having a most successful season, with their teams leading both Division 1 and 2. Millwoods A holds a narrow lead over a re-surgent Edmonton CC. Millwoods have lost just once in 7 matches, whilst Edmonton have five wins and three losses. Millwoods B head the 2nd division with a most impressive 100% record in 6 matches. Unofficial Edmonton League site
British Columbia The Mainland Cricket League consists of 51 teams in four divisions this year. The Premier Division is headed by Richmond with a four point lead over Meraloma. Division 1 is hotly contested with five clubs tied on points, each having played 10 matches. Richard Howes of Meraloma is the leading run-scorer in the Premier, with over 300 at an average of nearly 40. Zahid Mahmood of Salim Akbar heads the bowling lists with 23 wickets. Across the Straits on the Island, Cowichan lead the league after the first half to the season, with an impressive 9 wins to one loss. Albion have also only lost once but have played one fewer games. Victoria and district league site Historical titbits The National Archives of Canada have developed a wonderful resource, allowing a full search of archival image collections on the web. Visiting their web site http://www.imagescanada.ca/, and searching using the term "cricket" yields some fascinating results. My search showed 66 images from a variety of sources. Many show early cricket in western Canada, from the collections of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. Early inter-provincial matches, the Australian tour of 1932, and many team pictures from the early part of the 20th century can be found. Other interesting pictures include a series of postcards from the Toronto Public Library, engravings of the 1879 English tour of Canada from the Canadian Illustrated News, and views of cricket in Cape Breton. Please mail me with any errors or omissions - and we'd love to hear all your cricket news. Note: CricInfo is not responsible for the content or availability of external sites. © CricInfo/ Dave Liverman |
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