The Winnipeg cricket bats are going to be hot this summer with two renovated fields at Assiniboine Park.
Previous president and active member of Manitoba Cricket Association (MCA), Garvin Budhoo, is excited about what this means for local cricket. With many immigrants getting to play the game they know and love in their new hometown, the MCA’s mission is to make it an inclusive and supportive environment.
“Cricket is one of the sports that they love and if we can provide that opportunity for them to play, then that’s our biggest goal,” Budhoo said.
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Canadian national player and captain of Cosmos Elite team Jatinder Matharu bowls the ball against the Winnipeg Blues.
“We’ve been trying to get this turf in Manitoba for 10 years,” he added. “The two fields at Assiniboine Park will have natural grass pitches.”
Budhoo is a cricket legend himself, playing first class cricket in Guayana before he came to Canada. He advanced to the Manitoba men’s team, playing from 1981-2013, until continuing to involve himself in the MCA.
With these newly developed fields, the future of cricket in Manitoba is wide open as both fields now up to official regulation standards for pro play.
“Turf pitches is the surface that cricket is played on all around the world. It has the most natural feel,” Budhoo explained.
The National Cricket Council has been an active advocate that this certain pitch creates the best conditions for matches. With the league rapidly evolving, these changes were necessary.
Budhoo explained how it makes a huge difference in the game with the type of turf laid down on the field, artificial not being ideal. Now with over 70 teams in the league, this recent change was an invited development.
“Eight years ago, there were 13 teams in the league, now we’ve got 73 teams playing on the weekend,” Budhoo said, with three other teams in the recreational league. “There was need for grounds to accommodate all those teams.”
Cosmos Cricket Club president Ray Ramratten shares the same excitement about Assiniboine park.
“Anybody that has played cricket in Manitoba for a few decades knows how important Assiniboine Park is to cricket,” he said. “Everybody wants to play there.”
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Cosmos Cricket Club’s Balpreet Brar bowls the ball against the Winnipeg Blues.
With Cosmos hosting high performance and elite programs as well as recreational teams, it’s important that they’re given the right grounds to play on — the expectation being that it’ll be a new game.
“Once it’s ready, it’ll be a different cricket. On the international and national standard, cricket is played on natural. It takes a different level of skill set and preparation,” Ramratten said.
The Cosmos club has represented Manitoba in winning a handful of provincial championships. Although they didn’t win it this previous year, they are aiming high for this season.
With the new turf at Assiniboine Park, it’ll help efforts at the national level — practising on the proper turf here in Winnipeg.
“Once it’s 100 per cent ready, it will be the most unique (field) in Manitoba,” Ramratten said, referencing the stormy night before June 10 that played game spoiler when the fields were officially opened.
“The ball behaves differently off the natural turf as opposed to the artificial,” he explained.
With this being a regulation set by the National Cricket Council, why has it taken so long to come to Manitoba? The answer is universal to many of life’s problems: money and time.
Natural turf is a fickle beast, needing to be taken care of on a daily basis, otherwise it quickly becomes unplayable.
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Kamal Mangli at bat against the Winnipeg Blues.
“Majority of pitches throughout the country are artificial. There is only a small amount that is natural and that’s why it’s so difficult to get experience training and playing on it,” Ramratten said.
Now with Manitoba adding its name to the limited provinces with this type of field, the competition will only grow.
“We will be able to host national and international tournaments,” Budhoo said. “We’re very excited that the field is going to be able to (welcome) the international community.”
Ramratten shared a similar sentiment about how this will benefit Cosmos’ five teams.
“When any athlete is continuously practicing and training (but) not getting the opportunity to put it to the test — eventually you’ll get bored,” Ramratten said.
“If you’re training with a purpose and you know that purpose is going to be more challenging, your training itself will improve. The impact would mean a higher level of skill set (for) our Manitoba cricketers.”
The matches are played on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summer months.
“We start early in the morning then try to fit two games in the day so (that) we’re able to try to get all those teams playing,” Budhoo said.
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Cosmos Cricket Club’s Balwinder Singh
Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter
For those cricket lovers that want to know if the tea-time tradition is being upheld, you will be very content. Budhoo has ensured that tea is always offered during the 20-minute break in the middle of the game.
“Cricket has been played in Winnipeg since the 1860s. It has had a long tradition in Winnipeg and people don’t know these things,” Budhoo said. “Our objective is to let people know that there is cricket here.”
With Ramratten being an active member of the Cosmos for over 40 years, he agrees that the history of cricket in Manitoba is important.
“For someone who has been around (the club) since 1983, (I’ve) seen some changes. I’m looking forward to sitting down and watching some high-level cricket,” he said.
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