Eleven women players from Argentina, Bermuda and Canada will depart for Trinidad this month as part of an ICC Americas development programme. The academy will take place at the Sir Frank Worrell Development Centre in Trinidad and Tobago from May 18-29. The program will be run by Ann Browne-John – the ICC Women’s Committee Representative, former West Indies Captain and Level 2 WICB Coach – who is assisted by former international players and qualified coaches Stephanie Power and Jasmine Sammy. The girls will have 10 days of intensive training, education, game situations and will be trying out for the WICB tournament to be held in Jamaica in July.

An interesting article in Canada’s Globe & Mail reports that the popularity of the game among immigrants is being stalled by the lack of pitches.

There are more players than the cricket grounds in Surrey can hold, forcing some Sunday matches to be held in school playgrounds … [it] has two cricket grounds and there is a growing demand for more. Hundreds of cricketers cannot play because of the shortage of grounds.
And the son of one immigrant reveals that his son has now taken up the game.

Ethnically South Asian, the junior Kumar was born and raised in Canada. He started playing cricket this year. He says the game is fun, but it also helps him connect to his Indian culture. "If I leave my own culture, the culture [will] die out," he said.

Canada have joined the Twenty20 bandwagon and will host their first tournament in Toronto on May 17 and 18. Eight teams from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia will compete.

"In the light of what is happening in the IPL in India at the moment, what we are undertaking in Canada is a major step to restore this sport to its former glory which it enjoyed till ice hockey replaced it," the board's CEO Atul Ahuja said.

Ahuja was present at the launch of the IPL in Bangalore last month and said that the owners of the franchises had indicated a willingness to send teams to Canada. "All of them ... promised to send Twenty20 teams to Canada in the summer to help us groom players. We have a huge talent from the South Asian and Caribbean communities in Canada."

However, if they do, the sides are unlikely to bear much resemblance to those playing in the IPL at the moment and most of the high-profile players will be on international duty elsewhere.

Canada’s women finished their tour of Trinidad & Tobago with a third heavy defeat, losing by eight wickets to the Under-21 side in a match reduced by rain to 35 overs a side. Canada managed 98 for 8 and in reply the U-21s cruised home with 15.3 overs to spare.

The Trinidad & Tobago Development XI thrashed Canada's women by 151 runs at the National Cricket Centre. The home side eased to 203 for 7, with Amanda Samaroo (60) and Jerveena Pollocksingh (49) leading the way. Canada were as good as down and out as they limped to 6 for 4, and although they extended their innings to the 33rd over they only scraped 52.

Trinidad & Tobago’s Under-21 women’s side thumped the Canada national side by 144 runs at the University of the West Indies. A half century from Sharda Basrop helped Trinidad & Tobago to 215 for 9 in their 50 overs, Vadeo Sproxton took 5 for 29 in six overs, although her colleague were not nearly as disciplined as they shipped 40 wides. In reply, Canada limped to 71 in 34.2 overs, with only Monali Patel (12) reaching double figures.

There are many cricket fans and supporters, both from the Caribbean and the rest of the world, who would have been surprised to learn of the participation of a team from the Americas [Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Bahamas] in the forthcoming International Under-15 Cricket Championships, scheduled for April 16- May 4

Continue reading "Americas compete in U-15 Championships"

Canadian Cricket Association has finally had its name officially changed to Cricket Canada. The board announced the move last year, but has now received approval from the Minister of Industry and the Director, Corporations Canada.

The Canadian Cricket Association will hold the 2008 National Championship from May 17 to 19 at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club near Toronto. Held on a rotational basis, this year the Ontario Cricket Association will host teams from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the National Cricket Academy.

Click here for full itinerary.

As widely expected, the ICC executive board approved proposals to reduce the number of Associates participating at the 2011 World Cup from six to four.

This was done, so the ICC claimed, to reduce the length of an event which many considered to be too bloated in 2007 from 47 days to 38.

The ICC's 10 Full Members automatically qualify and they will be joined by the top four teams from next years World Cup Qualifiers in Dubai. As thing stands, this means that Ireland have to qualify for a tournament they reached the Super Sixes at last time, while Zimbabwe, who are below them in the official ICC One-Day Rankings, do not.

Alternative proposals, including one which would have involved a pre-qualifying tournament featuring the top six Associates as well as Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, were earlier rejected by the ICC's chief executives committee.

The number of people actively participating in cricket outside the Test-playing countries increased 17% in 2007, according to the ICC.

The research, carried out by the ICC's development program, was collated from 33 Associate and 58 Affiliate members. It showed that there were 338,051 male and female players in those countries in 2007, an increase of 49,158 on the previous year. Since 2002, when there were 144,047 participants, there has been a 135% rise.

Click here for the full story.

The National Coach, Pubudu Dassanayake, has announced the other members of his coaching team consisting of national level coaches. Shaun Miller who played in England at a very high level is the Deputy National Coach responsible for Western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan); Anderson Cummins, former West Indies and Canada opening bowler, will be spearheading the U19s; Farooq Kirmani who represented Canada in both the 1982 and 1986 Associates WC Qualifier in England, will be undertaking the U15s; George Codrington who played for Barbados U19 and recently represented Canada at CWC in the West Indies, will undertake the women’s program; and Geoffrey Crosse will resume his role as Technical Analyst.

Tony Cozier is, rightly, one of the most respected journalists in the game. His work to cover and promote cricket in the Caribbean has been unstinting for almost four decades. And yet even the best writers have off days, and his attack on the way that the ICC funds the Intercontinental Cup, the first-class competition for the Associates, is one of those.

Continue reading "ICC must go on funding cricket's expansion"

Tony Cozier, the veteran Caribbean journalist and broadcaster, has launched a scathing attack on the way the ICC funds global cricket outside the Test-playing countries.

Writing in his column which is syndicated throughout the Caribbean, Cozier was angry at the way that established regions, such as West Indies, were not allocated more money instead of so much being spent by the ICC on Associate competitions.

“Certainly there is no ICC venture more illogical or costly than the one dubbed the Inter-Continental Cup,” he wrote. “It is an annual tournament, described by the ICC as its ‘flagship first-class competition’, comprising round-robin, four-day matches between its second tier members, those one below Test status. These are countries where the game has always been based on amateur, weekend, one-day club cricket. They play no four-day domestic matches and almost certainly never will.

“Yet the ICC doles out heaven knows how much cash every year to fly them, and their own entourage of officials, across the world and to house and feed them at venues as scattered as Aberdeen, Dublin, Namibia, Toronto, Sharjah and Windhoek.

“Canada were unable to raise their strongest team for the African tour because many of their best players simply could not get time off from their jobs. The same problem affects others, rendering the tournament even less relevant.”

The ICC maintains that the competition enables players from Associate countries to gain more experience in the longer form of the game.

Namibia have beaten Canada by eight wickets in their Intercontinental Cup match at Windhoek. Click here for the bulletin and leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Canada's recently appointed chief executive, Atul Ahuja, will be taking inspiration from his country's high profile sports such as ice hockey in a bid to increase the level of professionalism of cricket.

Ahuja, an Indian-born Canadian citizen with extensive business experience, takes up the role on November 1 and is confident that the shorter format of the game, in particular Twenty20, will prove popular in Canada.

"Cricket holds a huge potential in Canada that needs to be tapped," he told The Economic Times in India. "Typically, for the North American demographics the five-day test match version of the game is somewhat boring. Canada and the US are largely non-cricket playing nations and the psyche of sports lovers is not attuned to a game that goes on for five days."

Read the full story at Cricinfo.

By Eddie Norfolk

Heartlake Cricket Club won the Etobicoke and District League's Premier Division with a five-wicket win against Elmbank. Elmbank won the toss and decided to bat, but the innings never got into gear. A few defiant shots near the end took the total to 122, with Enos Charles taking 3 for 28.

Continue reading "Heartlake win Etobcioke Premier Division"

By Eddie Norfolk

Adastrians retained the Quebec Cricket Federation Championship on Saturday by beating Pak-Can by 98 runs at Raymond Park, La Salle, Montreal.

Adastrians batted first but lost early wickets, struggling to 44 for 4. But they recovered to make a potentially assailable 227, but Pak-Can came up way short, dismissed for 129.

Continue reading "Adastrians retain Quebec title"

Howard Petrook has resigned as the vice-president of the Canadian cricket Association and the high performance manager with effect from the end of September for personal reasons.

By Eddie Norfolk

Brampton Masters captured the Toronto and District Cricket Association Premier Championship with a powerful 164-run win over Toronto CC.  Opening batsman Albert Gopie (5), Brent Lezama (53) and their Canadian international Henry Osinde (5 wickets for 21 runs) spearheaded this success. 
 

Continue reading "Brampton Masters take Toronto league"

Toronto CC and Brampton Masters will contest the Premier Championship of the Toronto and District Cricket Association on Sunday (September 16) at Maple Leaf Cricket Club, King City. In Saturday's semi-final matches, played on a cold and blustery day in King City, Toronto beat Yorkshire CC by 35 runs and Masters beat Vikings by six wickets.

Kenya have two players in the running for the ICC Associate ODI Player of the Year award. Steve Tikolo and Thomas Odoyo have been shortlisted for the new category. Canada's Ashish Bagai and Ryan ten Doeschate, of Netherlands, are the other players vying for the prize.

The talented Tikolo was in consistent form – his highlight a fifty against England in the World Cup - while Odoyo delivered with both bat and ball.
 
Ten Doeschate hit an unbeaten century in the World Cricket League, and added a hatful of wickets. At the World Cup which followed he struck two fifties in three matches including one against South Africa.

Bagai was a member of Canada's World Cup teams in 2003 and 2007. He came to prominence this winter with two centuries at the World Cricket League, where he was named Player of the Tournament, ahead of the World Cup.

The first ICC Awards were held four years ago, but this is the first time there will be an Associate Player of the Year. The winner will be named in Johannesburg, South Africa, on September 10 as teams gather for the initial ICC World Twenty20 championship.

Click here for the shortlists for all of the awards.

	Trinidad and Tobago's explosive talent, Amanda Samaroo © ICC

Canada’s women have given their country some joy, with victory in the first ICC Americas Women’s Championship, held in Canada. They overhauled Bermuda by five wickets in the deciding victory.

Bermuda, though, have the consolation of a place at the World Cup qualifiers in Lahore in November. Argentina sank to three defeats in three, but will take some positives – and have two players competing for a place in the ICC Americas XI who take on Trinidad & Tobago Under-17 on Friday.

T&T have been the outstanding side of this tournament – their latest victory a huge victory against Argentina – but they were not eligible for the title. Nevertheless, it has been excellent experience for them. And they appear to have a rising star in their ranks – the batsman Amanda Samaroo, whose highlight was a superb unbeaten 128, off only 125 balls.

Click here for more.

Openers Ruvindu Gunasekera and Terryn Fray stroked centuries of contrasting styles and offspinner Pratik Patel captured a remarkable 7 for 3 as Canada and Bermuda maintained their winning streak in the five-team round-robin Americas Under-19 World Cup Qualifier in Toronto on Wednesday.

Canada and Bermuda lived up to their pre-tournament favourites' tag by scoring convincing victories in their Americas Under-19 Qualifiers in Toronto on Tuesday. Canada beat Argentina by nine wickets while Bermuda won their second match in a row by beating Cayman Islands by seven wickets.

Click here for the full report ...

Barry Ganese hit the cricketing maximum on Friday (August 10), powering his was to six sixes in one over of six balls. Ganese was playing for Toronto and District Premier club Overseas against the touring Trinidad and Tobago club side Powergen at Maple Leaf CC, King City, Ontario. He continued to score freely and took his side to victory with an individual score of 80 runs not out from a mere 30 balls.

“I've had close encounters before with four and five sixes in an over, but this was the first time for six sixes,” he said. “It was a big thrill out there. It was especially good to have family and friends - a lot of friends - around to see it.” He admitted that a few of his ten sixes were mishits.

Canada face a stiff challenge from Bermuda in their bid to return to the Under-19 World Cup when the five-team round-robin Americas U-19 Qualifier begins at Mapleleaf CC, King City in Toronto on Monday (August 13).

Argentina, Caymans Islands and debutants Bahamas are the other teams taking part in the week-long competition. The winner will join the ICC’s 10 Full Members, hosts Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Ireland (who recently qualified from the East-Asia Pacific and European Regions respectively) at the 16-team U-19 World Cup to be played in Malaysia next February. Canada missed the 2006 event in Sri Lanka but participated in the 2002 and 2004 tournaments.

Continue reading "Hosts Canada start as firm favourites"

Canada cricket comes under fire in the Toronto Star. Faraz Sawat considers the way forward for the board, which is at a crossroads, and turns his attentions to the CEO, Ben Sennik.

Sennik aims high – maybe too high. The CCA president has invited scepticism by among other things, his oft-repeated objective of Canada acquiring Test status in 10 years. Leaving aside matters of inadequate infrastructure, this is quite rich coming from a governing body that is dirt poor and struggles to pay its players or secure sponsorship.

By Eddie Norfolk

Irfan Rabbani scored 304 from a 50-over total of 438 for 5 to help his Appolo team romped to a 227-run win over United XI in Toronto's First Division last weekend. This is the highest individual score in Canadian domestic cricket, overhauling the 280 scored by Canadian international player Don Maxwell when with York University.

Rabbani hit 48 boundaries and six sixes. He took part in stands of 120 for the second wicket, 155 for the third and 118 for the fourth. Naveed Tariq was next highest scorer with 57 runs. Rabbani was eventually bowled by Khayan Raja.

Continue reading "Player smashes 304 in domestic 50-over match"

Guyan visited Scarborough, in Ontario, last Sunday to play a team of Canadian Guyanese in the Celebrity Cricket match. The game, won by Guyana, was part of the Guyana Festival weekend to celebrate Guyanese independence.

Continue reading "Guyana play Guyanese… in Canada"

Canada have announced their home fixtures this summer. They have two Intercontinental Cup matches. Firstly, they will face Netherlands from June 28 to July 1, then UAE in a a game starting on July 6.

Two ODIs against Netherlands will be held in between, on July 3 and 4, the same dates as when Canada A are playing UAE in two warm-up ODIs. It’s not ideal to have both Canada A and the full team are playing over the long weekend, but this was somewhat unavoidable, as the UAE having to change their schedule to cope with other ODI requirements. Those changes caused a conflict in Canada with the games which had already been scheduled with Holland.

Ontario will then play UAE in a one-dayer on July 11.

If you are in Leicester this week, then head down to Grace Road to catch the Intercontinental Cup final – for free. That’s right. It’s your chance to see Canada (including John Davison) take on the reigning champions and World Cup heroes Ireland. The four-day match kicks off on Tuesday 22.

Canada will head to England on Tuesday to prepare for the ICC Intercontinental Cup Final against Ireland, at Grace Road, Leicester. The four-day match starts on May 22. The Canadians, many of whom have not played for nearly two months since their last World Cup match on March 22, will have a warm-up against an England select XI at Loughborough Town. That two-day game takes place on Thursday and Friday this week.

In Canada itself, the domestic cricket season started on May 12 for two of the leagues in Greater Toronto. Premier Divisions of both the Etobicoke and District League, and the Canadian Commonwealth Cricket Association of Toronto had their first matches, but the largest league kicks off this Saturday.

The Toronto and District Cricket Association gets underway this week, while players in the Scarborough Cricket Association will have to wait for their first matches on May 26.

- The City of Toronto's exhibition "A view from the Pavilion: South Asian Contributions to the World of Cricket" is at Toronto City Hall this week. Later it will move to Etobicoke Civic Centre (June 4-6), North York Civic Centre (June 11-13) and finally Scarborough Civic Centre (June 18-22).

Ian Billcliff has become the second Canada player to withdraw from the Intercontinental Cup final against Ireland. He was unable to obtain leave from his job, and will be replaced by Sundeep Jyoti for the tie at Grace Road, Leicesteshire, which starts on May 22.

His absence is a blow – he scored a century in the the group matches. Ashish Patel also had to withdraw through work commitments and was replaced by Henry Osinde.

The fixtures for the first half of the 2007-08 Intercontinental Cup have been released by the ICC.

The tournament undergoes a change of format once again, with the group stages scrapped and a round-robin system introduced. This will mean that the eight participants play seven matches after the two-year span of the competition.

The event kicks off on June 28 when Canada, who meet Ireland in the final of the 2006-07 tournament at Leicester between May 22 and 25, meet Netherlands in Toronto.

Scotland play back-to-back matches against Ireland and Netherlands at the start of August, while Bermuda will be in Europe to take on the same opponents at the end of the month.

The schedule shows that Bermuda are the busiest country in 2007 with four matches, all away from home. In addition to their European trip, they play Kenya in Nairobi at the start of November and from there go straight to the meet UAE.

Namibia, on the other hand, have only one game inked in, while Kenya have two.

Henry Osinde will replace Ashish Patel in Canada's squad for the Intercontinental Cup final against Ireland next month. Patel could not get time off work according to the CCA website.

The ICC has announced that the final of the Intercontinental Cup between Canada and Ireland will be held at Grace Road, Leicester between May 22 and 25.

The County Ground at Chelmsford had originally been earmarked to stage the game, but negotiations between Essex and the ICC broke down earlier in the month.

Martin Williamson has written an article which highlights the pressures players for Associate countries face as they compete with the budgets of the Full Members.

In expanding the game, the ICC has, rightly, offered more matches to the Associates. On top of any ODIs they can persuade Full Member countries to give them, as well as tournaments they arrange among themselves, they participate in the Intercontinental Cup, the World Cricket League and the four-yearly ICC Trophy. But that expansion has not taken into account that the players remain amateur.

The flaw in the ICC's plan is that the increased demands have not been backed by additional funding. In the year ending April 30, 2007, Scotland were scheduled to play 46 days of cricket (including warm-ups for tournaments) as a national side; the numbers for the other Associates are similar - Bermuda 45, Canada 43, Ireland 42, Kenya 37, Netherlands 24. That does include time spent preparing, travelling and acclimatising.

The direct funding they receive for that from the ICC amounts to US$215,000, of which $125,000 is not actually handed over to the boards but is retained by the ICC and used to offset other costs, such as paying for coaches and hosting training camps. Compare that with the lowest-ranked Full Member, Zimbabwe, who will receive around US$10 million with no requirement to account for how it is spent. In the same period, they had 37 days cricket scheduled. That really puts into perspective Ireland's achievement in Jamaica.

The Canadian Cricket Association has announced that both George Codrington and Anderson Cummins have announced their retirement from international cricket following the World Cup.

	Going easy on the minnows? © Getty Images

Robert Craddock, writing in The Australian, thinks he knows why.

It is understood commentators have been told by Global Cricket Corp producers that it frowns on them denigrating the minnows. However, it is deemed acceptable for commentators to call an event a mismatch but not to say some of the nations do not deserve to be in the tournament.

Some commentators who agree with the directive and feel the minnows are a necessary part of global expansion are happy to abide by it. Others, who feel the tournament has been devalued by their presence, would rather speak their mind.

And Craddock concluded by saying that some of the players themselves are aware of the real picture.

The widespread feeling that the minnows are enjoying every moment of their matches against the big boys is wide of the mark. Several Dutch players privately conceded they feel embarrassed by their team's efforts.

Keep your eyes and ears open and see if what you are watching tallies with what you are being told.

Scotland have underlined their position at the top of the ICC Associate ODI rankings after good performances in the World Cricket League in Nairobi. Kenya, who beat Scotland in the final, are not included as they are part of the main rankings until 2009.

Scotland beta Netherlands, Canada and Ireland in the tournament, giving them a 69% win rate against other Associates, well clear of Netherlands in second place. Ireland ate third after a disappointing event, Canada are fourth and Bermuda fifth.

It won't get many column inches in the mainstream cricket press, but the World Cricket League, which started in Nairobi yesterday and continues into next week, features the best of the rest, the six sides just under the ten Test-playing countries. For the two finalists, the rewards are bountiful - a place among the big boys in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa this September, along with $250,000. For countries used to surviving on annual handouts from the ICC of less than $200,000, that's big money.

Continue reading "A long way from home"

A very interesting article in Kenya’s Standard about Henry Osinde. Born and raised in Uganda, he is back in neighbouring Kenya this week to play in the World Cricket League. But he has turned his back on Uganda and is now a member of the multinational Canadian side.

Without a touch of irony, he said that "Uganda cricket has a good development programme, but the problem is to get it to next level." He added, with another turn of the knife, that he had no plans to visit to offer any support.

Contrary to reports at the weekend, it is highly unlikely that a planned one-day series between India and Australia in North America will be able to include matches in the USA. At present, there are no venues in the country approved by the ICC to host a one-day international. In fact, there are none even close to being recognised.

Continue reading "Stillborn in the USA"

An interesting article in the Montreal Gazette on immigrants in Canada who are spreading the cricket gospel. But this raises a bigger question … if the game is played predominantly by first-generation expats, can it be said that game is growing?

Since beating higher-ranked Bangladesh at the last World Cup in South Africa in 2003, Canada has stepped up recruitment of immigrants like him, as well as Canadians living abroad, to play on the team.

And with organizers spending more money on the sport - paying for cricket classes in high schools and colleges, building indoor arenas in Ontario and investing in such specialized training equipment as automatic bowling machines - the future of Canadian cricket looks bright.

Martin Williamson looks at what message is being sent to the Associates by the ICC deciding to appoint Darrell Hair to officiate in their tournament ... and do the ICC even know where they stand.

Continue reading "Mixed messages from Dubai"

Should Canada reach the final of the World Cricket League - to be held in Nairobi at the end of this month - thus qualifying them for the Twenty 20 World Cup in September, each player will receive a bonus of USD$5,000. More info can be found at their web site.

In an open letter to Cricinfo, Ben Sennik, the president of the Canadian Cricket Association, has hit back at recent critcisms of the board and him personally.

Continue reading "Sennik comes out fighting"

Canada lost a warm-up one-day match against TUCS (the University of Pretoria) by seven wickets. Canada batted first and made 228 for 6. Openers Desmond Chumney (19) and Sandeep Jyoti (17) got the innings off to a reasonable start but the main scoring came in a fifth-wicket stand between Ashish Bagai (80 not out) and Abdool Samad (100).

Canada used several bowlers in this practice match but went down to solid batting from TUCS opener Phil Haupt (67 and No. 3 batsman Gert Lotries, who starred with 146 not out.

Canada, Bermuda and the Netherlands meet in a series of official ODI matches over the next week. Canada will then close their trip to South Africa with the final match in their ICC Intercontinental Cup group.

Eddie Norfolk

In April 2006, Eddie Norfolk joined the Canadian Cricket Association as their marketing and communication manager. A little more than two months later he was effectively ousted without reference to the main board.

It was obvious from the moment he arrived that Norfolk would be a breath of fresh air in a previously semi-secret organization. Before his arrival the CCA provided almost no information on the game, had no functioning media department, and at times even seemed hostile to attempts to give the game there a higher profile. Within weeks that had changed.

However, it seemed that Norfolk quickly rubbed senior CCA figures up the wrong way. Looking in from the outside, it is hard to see just what he did wrong. But it seems that some within the CCA would have preferred to retain a cloak of anonymity. There is also a clear suspicion that people were jealous that Norfolk was becoming more identifiable as the voice of Canadian cricket than they were.

Click here for the full story

Victoria and District Cricket Association

The Victoria and District Cricket (VDCA) 2006 regular season comprised two pools of five teams, arranged in equal strength groups. Every team played other teams in its group twice and then once against the teams in the other group. This meant a maximum of 13 league games. Colts came top of Pool A, followed by Incogs. In Pool B Albion 1 finished top, followed by Cowichan.

The season season finished with playoff games between the top two teams from each Pool in the regular season. The play-offs were one-game semi-finals and a one game final. The top team in each pool played the second placed team from the other pool.

In one semi-final, Cowichan bowled out Colts for 89. Tanzil Rehman, with 43 runs, provided the main resistance to Cowichan’s Luke Watson who took 6 wickets for 33 runs. Rick Fletcher made 35 not out and Steve Jesperson 25 runs as Cowichan reached 90 runs for the loss of 3 wickets, to win by 7 wickets.

Continue reading "VDCA round-up"

British Columbia Mainland Cricket League

Salim Akbar won the playoff championships for the British Columbia Mainland Cricket League in 2006, beating Meraloma in the final. This was a reversal of the regular season positions where Meraloma topped the 7-team Premier Division and Salim Akbar second. Richmond came third and Pakcan fourth. Seattle (Washington, USA) placed last in the regular season standings.

Canadian national team players Geoff Barnett, 47 runs, and Kevin Sandher, 36 runs, were the top individual scorers for Meraloma in the Final. Bilal Khan took 4 wickets for 40 runs as Meraloma was all out for 151 runs in the 50th over.

Salim Akbar’s success was built on a number of steady contributions with the bat. They reached the winning target with almost 4 overs to spare. Jawad Dawood made 34 runs and Hasan Ali Pashar 33 runs. Haninder Dhillon, the Canadian international, was unbeaten on 32.

Eddie Norfolk

Tomalin Cup 2006
The Tomalin Cup is played annually between the champions of the British Columbia Mainland League (BCML) and the winners of the Victoria and District Cricket Association. In 2006, the Cup was played at Beacon Hill, Victoria. Salim Akbar (BCML) had a comfortable eight-wicket win over Incogs.

Andrew Maxwell provided the main resistance when a depleted Incogs side batted. Vilal took 2 for 3 and Imran finished with figures of 2 for 15. Salim Akbar reached the winning target for the loss of just two wickets.

Salim Akbar included Haninder Dhillon, the Canadian international, and players such as Manoj David and Shazad Afzul, who both played for a Canada XI against MCC in 2005. David was recently named winner of the 2006 Cliff Cox Medal, a prestigious award given to the 'best and fairest player' in the BC Mainland Cricket League. The award is decided by the votes of the umpires.

Eddie Norfolk

The Canadian Cricket Association national selectors have named their 30-man winter training squad. This pool will be used to select the playing squads for the tours to South Africa, later this year, and Kenya, early next year. These tours set the stage for next year’s Cricket World Cup in the West Indies. Accordingly, the tours focus on One-Day International matches.

The players will undergo fitness and training programs that have been prepared by National Coach Andy Pick. The nucleus of the squad is from Ontario but includes players from British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta. There is a base of veteran players and others who made their mark with the national team this summer. Six others come into the squad.

The veteran base includes players such as John Davison, Ian Billcliff and George Codrington. It also has the opening bowling pairing of Henry Osinde and Umar Bhatti, commonly regarded as the best opening bowing pair within the ICC Associates. Geoff Barnett, Abdool Samad and Jyoti.

The highlight of the Kenyan trip is the inaugural ICC World Cricket League Division 1. The participants are Kenya, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Bermuda and The Netherlands.
The South African trip includes the 4-day ICC Intercontinental Cup match with the Netherlands. Canada has an excellent chance of winning their group, which would see the team reach the final.

Continue reading "Canada's Winter Training squad announced"

Young Malton 255 (48.5 overs; Enos McDonald 90, Balaji Rao 44; Akbar Hussain 4-48) beat Canterbury 120 (33.4 overs; Tauseef Shamid 30; Puvendran Ravishankar 4-25) by 135 runs

Young Malton (Etobicoke & District League champions) beat Canterbury CC (Ottawa Valley champions) by 135 runs on Sunday October 1 in the final of the OCA Championship. The match was played at Maple Leaf CC, King City.

Continue reading "Young Malton win Ontario Cricket Association Championship"

The Shaw Festival beat the Stratford Festival by 102 runs at Veterans Memorial Park, Niagara-on-the-Lake on Monday August 29. Jeff Irving was the star for the Shaw side, scoring 49 out of a total of 152, and then taking 4 for 13 as Stratford were bowled out for 50. Andrew Bunker also took 4 for 13, bowling throughout the Stratford innings.

Continue reading "Shaw win battle of the Theatre Festivals"

Bermuda won the World Cricket League Americas Division 1 Championship for the first time. Canada has two previous wins and the USA won once. Bermuda took the title thank's to Canada's ten-wicket win over the USA last Saturday. The Cayman Islands beat Argentina on Saturday and this ensured they qualify for the Global Division 3 section of the World Cricket League in 2007.

Bermuda and Canada had already qualified for the Global World Cricket League (WCL) Division 1 as a result of their rankings in the 2005 ICC Trophy in Ireland. WCL Division 1 is in Kenya in January 2007. The USA will be in WCL Global Division 3.

Bermuda ended the Americas championship with three wins and one no-result for a total of 14 points. USA were second (two wins, one loss, one no result for 10 points). Canada came third edging out Cayman Islands on net run-rate (difference betwen rate of a team scoring runs when batting, and conceding runs when bowling). Both teams had two wins and two losses. Argentina came last with five losses.

The player of the tournament was US captain Steve Massiah, who also won the batting award for his 283 runs in 4 matches. Ronald Ebanks (Cayman) took the bowling award for 10 wickets. Bermuda took the fielding prizes with Stephen Outerbridge (fielder) and Kwame Tucker (wicketkeeper) getting the honours. Regular Bermuda wicketkeeper Dean Minors had to return home due to an illness in the family.

Bermuda's batsmen can expect a touch examination of their technique in the first game of their tour of Canada, in tomorrow's ICC Intercontinental Cup match in Toronto.

After observing the pitch for himself, Bermuda skipper Irving Romaine said he believed the pitch would be fast.

“The groundsman (Lewis) said it would be very fast and I think Canada’s plan will be to attack us with pace,” Romaine said.

Tomorrow will mark the Island’s first-time involvement in an international four-day match. And in order to reap success, Romaine said his team-mates would have to quickly adjust to meet the challenges.

“Basically this is a new step for everybody and so we will really have to occupy the wicket and not make any rash shots or anything like that,” Romaine said.

“This is going to be a change of mindset for everybody because before our preparations were geared towards the 20/20 (Stanford 20/20 Tournament) which is the shortest form of the game. Yet now we are here preparing ourselves for the longest version of the game.

“We have gone through two extremes in a matter of weeks, and so we will really have to be tough mentally and dig in.”

More at the Royal Gazette

There's a fascinating article with Anderson Cummins, the former West Indies allrounder who now lives in Canada. While cricket in Canada is booming, Cummins is aware of the need to market it to the local people and not simply rely on immigrants from cricket-playing nations.

"It's important to market it appropriately so it doesn't remain something that is played primarily by the immigrant population," he said.

One rare homegrown cricketer is Zubin Surkari. His father came here in the '70s from India and Surkari, 26, got involved with the game through programs at the Toronto Cricket Club at an early age. He's been on the senior national team since he was 19.

"It's hard to get homegrown players to play at a level that is good enough, when there are people coming in from other countries where they play cricket all the time," he said. He scoffs at the notion that cricket is a slow or boring game.

More at the Toronto Sun

As Canada prepare to face Bermuda and Zimbabwe in the ICC's tri-nation tournament in Trinidad, the president of the Canadian Cricket Association has admitted to being rather jealous of the cash-rich Bermudans. And Ben Sennik has set out his vision for Canada being a Test-playing nation within a decade.

To do that, he accepts that players will need to go professional:

"We are looking at the (pro) possibility as soon as a financial base has been established. We have to get salaried players. To get to the objectives we want we have to have professional players. The first thing we have to do is set up a strong financial base."

Canada will be travelling to the Caribbean for the World Cup next year, but it will be a home from home for quite a few of a squad built aroiund ex-pats. The Stabroek News in Guyana reports on how five locals have been named in the 40-man squad.

"Thirteen of the players on the current Canadian squad were born in the West Indies and moved to Canada, or were born in Canada to West Indian parents, the Canadian team's Trinidad-born manager and senior coordinator Mike Henry pointed out. They originated in Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua, and St Kitts-Nevis. At least five are from Guyana, or have a Guyanese parent."

The ICC winter training camp in South Africa is producing results ... and taunts that Canada are reliant on John Davison will be a thing of the past:

But thanks to the work put in by the four Canada players attending the 11-week residential course in Pretoria - Qaiser Ali, Umar Bhatti, Kenneth Carto and Henry Osinde - it is an accusation that could soon be put to bed for good.

Umar Bhatti, Kenneth Carto, Henry Osinde and Qaiser Ali are the four players benefiting.

Grim news at the AGM of the Canadian Cricket Association where only two members of the public turned out to watch.

What was revealed is the disconcerting impression that the Canadian Cricket Association is being directed by the ICC and it's policies, which appear to be driven by avarice and not the love of the game. (Note that the ICC has hidden away its headquarters in a 'tax haven', or should that be a tax heaven.) ... blindly following the path directed by the ICC will not necessarily mean that the average Canadian club cricketer will benefit. Without a perceived benefit, will the grass roots be interested and supportive?

Given Canada's disappointing exit from this year's Intercontinental Cup, it has been a poor few months for them.