Cricket making a comeback

It hasn’t exactly resurfaced as Canada’s national sport, but cricket certainly is enjoying a renaissance in this country.

Consider:

• The federal government, as first divulged in The York Report in Friday’s Metro editions, is recognizing cricket in Canada for the first time, elevating the sport’s stature and making it eligible for public funding, starting with an immediate grant of $77,000.
• About 150 schools in the Greater Toronto Area now offer cricket to students and there are plans in several regions to make it a sanctioned school sport.
• More than 1,000 cricket enthusiasts intend to turn out to the CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) Mayor’s Cup event next Saturday at Sunnybrook Park in Toronto.

“Cricket clearly is progressing in Canada,” said Ranil Mendis, who organizes the CIMA event, “but, still, it hasn’t come close yet to where it should be. We believe the booming success soccer has been experiencing in Canada is now on the horizon for cricket.”

That’s large­ly why, for the fourth consecutive year, Mendis and his associates are going to great lengths to conduct the Mayor’s Cup. CIMA, a United Kingdom-based association of accountants with 1,000 members in Toronto, has raised enough money from the three previous cups to send a team of 12 under-20 players to the U.K. for training in August. The team will be announced by Toronto Mayor David Miller at City Hall tomorrow.

Miller has developed a fondness for cricket himself and has turned into a formidable player, Mendis said.
Miller will play again Saturday and will be accompanied in the competition by a bevy of prominent

personalities, including Toronto police Chief Bill Blair, TTC vice-chairman Joe Mihevc, GO Transit CEO Gary McNeil, Metro publisher Bill McDonald, Fedex Canada president David Binks and Loblaws executive chair Galen Weston.

Metro will have a team competing, as well. The event pits members of the public sector against members of the private sector.

“It’s wonderful to be part of this terrific event,” McDonald said. “This is an excellent cause, and cricket is such an enjoyable sport.”

Actually, Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, declared cricket the country’s national sport in 1867. The game was quickly overtaken by other sports, though.

“People owe it to themselves to check out cricket,” said Metro sales co-ordinator Anthony Ramkissoon, who will also be playing Saturday.

“It’s an exciting, beautiful sport that requires great athleticism. And I’m a big fan of the game’s strategy.”
For details on Saturday’s event, visit www.cimacanada.org.