<h1><span lang=""style="font-size:42pt;">Cricket on cusp of boom in Saskatoon</span></h1>

Players use Complex while new facilities sought for sport

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

A young cricket player practices making a defensive hit.

Cricket in Saskatoon is on the verge of having a boom, but the potential boom could be deflated before it really gets going.

That is a scenario Bishwajit Sanyal, who is the President of Cricket Saskatoon, wants to avoid. Incorporated in 2003, Cricket Saskatoon plugged along with a modest number of players for a lengthy stretch.

In recent years, the sport has seen a spike in growth. Sanyal said two years ago there were 200 adult players taking part in the sport and that number has since grown to 400. He added in 2021 the sport had 10 teams, it grew to 14 teams last year and there could be 22 teams this year.

Sanyal said the fact there was a cricket community in Saskatoon helped keep him in the sport when he moved to the city from Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2015. His involvement in the sport locally grew from being a player, to a junior coach in 2019, to taking on Cricket Saskatoon’s Vice-President’s role in 2022 and becoming the organization’s President last year.

“When I moved to Canada, I never ever thought I would play cricket here,” said Sanyal.“When I came here, and I saw people were playing, then I also started playing.”

There has been growth on the junior side of the game too, which consists of players 18-and-under. Tapankumar Bhatt, who is the Director Junior Cricket Saskatoon, said there usually had been around five to 10 junior aged players in the game. That changed last year when Cricket Saskatoon attracted 55 junior players including both boys and girls.

“If I say Saskatoon is an immigrant hub, a lot of immigrants are coming from world wide,” said Bhatt. “This game is very popular in Southeast Asia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Caribbeans and America.

“Everywhere it is now growing popular, so people coming from other parts of the world they are missing this sport. Because we are conducting it now, the kids get a platform. Their parents are engaged.

“Their friends back at home used to play. Because we started this year, now, they get this sport.”

A bowler delivers a throw at a junior tournament.

Sanyal said the sport in Saskatoon needs new cricket specific facilities to handle the growth the sport is seeing.

“I just need to do all I can to take care of my kids,” said Sanyal. “Hopefully, the city will give them a good place to grow up, and they can go and play for Cricket Canada and Canada national team.”

Cricket does have a lengthy history in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan. When Canada became a country in 1867, cricket was declared the country’s first official sport. It was popular among early settlers in Saskatchewan, but the popularity faded as sports like hockey and baseball became more widely played.

Cricket still had a presence in Saskatoon with games regularly being played at Kinsmen Park until the 1980s, when the sport’s pitch was moved to the Saskatoon Forestry Farm. In the early 2010s, cricket began to grow again and two pitches were added in Pierre Radisson Park. The first pitch at that location opened in 2016 and a second pitch was added in 2021.

“Saskatchewan has a very old history about cricket,” said Sanyal. “We have three cricket grounds in Forestry Farm land and two of them on Pierre Radisson Park.

“Forestry Farm is now not playable. Pierre Radisson Park is very close to the neighbourhood, and we can’t even play proper cricket there.”

For indoor training in the winter months, Cricket Saskatoon has utilized both the Saskatoon Field House and the Indoor Training Centre at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. Sanyal said the staffs at both places have been great, but the coaches with Cricket Saskatoon have to modify or plan drills in both places. When both places were built, they weren’t originally planned to be used by cricket sports groups.

At the Indoor Training Centre, cricket players often practice the skills of their sport inside the batting cages. Sanyal said working in the batting cages is tough for the bowler (the player who pitches the ball in cricket), because the bowler usually needs a run up of 10 or 15 metres before throwing the ball.

With all that noted, two big successes Cricket Saskatoon had at the Indoor Training Centre was being able to hold the Indoor Junior Cricket Tournament on December 23, 2023 and the Envision Sports Club Tape Ball Cricket Tournament 2023 on December 30, 2023 at that facility.

A hitter makes a run to score a point at a junior tournament.

Bhatt was pleased the junior tournament went well. He said that event was a success because they had enough junior players to hold it, and they were able to successfully run junior games on the field turf at the Indoor Training Centre.

“That was amazing, because we never thought of that big successes,” said Bhatt. “We invited MLAs, MPs, and the councillors.

“The parents were here, so a lot of parents had never been in this facility before. They were amazed. They came from another part of the world.

“This kind of a bigger facility where you have indoor cricket you can play. It is a big ground, when you merge both north and south (fields). It was a very successful tournament, and we got a lot of visibility.”

Outdoors, Cricket Saskatoon hosted a Mini World Cup on May 6, 2023 at Pierre Radisson Park. Teams represented six community groups including Canada, Bangladeshi Community Association of Saskatchewan, India-Canada Cultural Association, Pakistan-Canada Culture Association, Sri Lanka Association of Saskatoon and South Africa. A total of 1,000 people came out to enjoy that one day event.

“It is a really fun game for like everyone that comes,” said Sanyal. “All our Saskatoon residents they are having fun, and now kids are also coming.”

Bhatt said he started playing cricket again after a number of years not playing the sport due to the fact his children are playing and he is involved as the director for the junior level of Cricket Saskatoon. The 41-year-old is looking forward to making good special memories when his team plays the junior side his children play on this coming season.

“We left cricket like 10 years back, 15 years back,” said Bhatt. “Now, we are starting it again, because our kids are playing.

“Our kids will face us in the game that is the biggest thing.”

Still, Sanyal is worried about turning players away and capping registrations, because of the lack of facilities for the sport in Saskatoon. He is concerned that players who are turned away or decide to leave the sport won’t come back if they elect to pursue other sports or activities. Sanyal believes cricket can be a great sport for the city.

A young player drives the ball at during a junior tournament.

“It is growing,” said Sanyal. “The main problem is we are having to choose with our facilities.

“We don’t have enough good ground for cricket.One of the greatest cricket players name is Sachin Tendulkar. He is from India, Mumbai.

“If anyone in cricket knows about cricket, they know about Sachin Tenduklar. I just want to make sure that one day we will produce that type of player, (and) everyone knows Saskatoon, where Saskatoon is all over the world.”

For more information about Cricket Saskatoon, feel free to check out their website at www.cricketsaskatoon.com. Check out the video below for an overview of the sport of cricket.