Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

is a minor sport in Canada which is unusual among the former Dominions of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

in not having adopted cricket as a major sport—in contrast with Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, Sri Lanka,

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grena ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

History

The earliest reports of cricket in Canada date from 1785 where games seem to have taken place in Montreal. The first reference to cricket being played on an organized basis is in 1834 when a club was founded in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

and there are reports of matches being played in Hamilton and Guelph. Cricket match, McGill campus, Montreal, QC, about 1890 (5351473247)

In 1840, there was a game between the Toronto and New York clubs. Similar strength teams played each other in 1844 in what has been called the first-ever cricket international. In 1867, Canadian prime minister

John A. MacDonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

and his cabinet declared cricket to be Canada’s first official sport.

Cricket Canada Cricket Canada, known as the Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) until November 2007, is the Sport governing body, governing body of cricket in Canada. It was established in 1892 and has its current headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. It administ ...

is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

of the sport of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

in Canada. It was established in 1892 and has its current headquarters in

, Ontario. The British Columbia Mainland Cricket League was founded in 1914, and is now the second-largest cricket league in North America. Cricket Canada is Canada's representative at the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

and has been an associate member of that body since 1968. It is included in the

ICC Americas ICC Americas is an international body which oversees cricket in countries in the Americas. It is a subordinate body to the International Cricket Council (ICC). The organisation currently has 17 members, located in Northern America, Central Ameri ...

region. Prior to November 2007, the organization was known as the Canadian Cricket Association. The most famous Canadian cricketer is John Davison, who was born in Canada and participated in the Cricket World Cup in both 2003 and 2007. At the 2003 World Cup, Davison hit the fastest century in tournament history against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

in what was ultimately a losing cause. In that World Cup he also smashed a half-century at a strike rate of almost 200 against

. One year later, in the ICC Intercontinental Cup against the USA, he proved the difference between the two sides, taking 17

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. * ...

for 137 runs as well as scoring 84 runs of his own. In the

2007 Cricket World Cup The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the ...

in the West Indies, Davison scored the second-fastest half-century against

. Canada has participated in the 1979, 2003, 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups.

Domestic competitions

The first Canadian Dominion inter-provincial cricket tournament was held in Montreal in the month of August 1964. One of the best matches of the tournament was Manitoba defeating British Columbia at Lower Canada College grounds in Montreal. Cricket Canada organizes domestic inter-provincial cricket in Canada. In 2008, Cricket Canada has introduced two domestic competitions that are Scotia Shield U-19 and National T20 Championship. National T20 Championship is a

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

format competition with eight domestic teams. Until 2006, the Under-18 National Tournament in Canada was called as Canada Cup. In 2009, a new professional Twenty20 league was formed. Known as the TJT National Cricket League (TJT NCL), the league initially consisted of six teams – the Warriors, Titans, Gladiators, Royals, Chiefs, and Kings. About 90 professional cricket players were drafted from across Canada in the inaugural draft. The inaugural season commenced play August 7, 2009 at G. Ross Lord Park in

. The six teams played each other in a round robin match over the season which lasted six weeks. The top four teams Gladiators, Warriors, Titans, and Kings played in semi-finals and the final match was played on September 27, 2009 between the Titans and the Kings. The 2009 TJT NCL championship was won by the Kings. In 2012, the CIBC National Cricket League was introduced by Cricket Canada as the new major domestic competition played mid-summer in Toronto. Consisting of five franchise teams to represent cricketing regions across the country; Pacific Edge (BC), Western Stallions (AB), Prairie Fire (MB/SK), Central Shield (ON), Eastern Fury (Atlantic – QC, NB, PE, NS, NL). The NCL is broken up into two competition formats, a T20 competition and a One Day competition. In February 2018, the

(ICC) sanctioned the

Global T20 Canada The Global T20 Canada is a 20-over cricket tournament played in Canada. The first edition of the tournament took place during June and July 2018 with six teams competing. Each team featured four local Canadian cricketers in each squad, along wi ...

, the first franchise-based

league in North America. Domestic competitions in Canada include: *

CIBC National Cricket League The CIBC National Cricket League, formerly known as the Scotiabank National T20 Championship is the first ever Twenty20 domestic competition in Canada held by Cricket Canada. The first tournament started in 2005 from August 1 to 5, in Vancouver, B ...

* Scotia Shield U-19 * TJT National Cricket League * Atlantic T20 * Maritime M40 Championship

Cricket grounds

Until September 2006, Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club Ground was the only ground in Canada approved to host official One Day Internationals. It was joined at this date by the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in

King City, Ontario King City is an unincorporated Canadian community in the township of King, Ontario, located north of Toronto. It is the largest community in King township, with 2,730 dwellings and a population of 8,396 as of the 2021 Canadian census. History ...

National team

While Canada is not sanctioned to play

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

matches, the team does take part in One Day International matches and also in first-class games (in the

ICC Intercontinental Cup The ICC Intercontinental Cup was a first-class cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as part of its cricket development programme. It was designed to allow Associate Members of the ICC the chance to play first ...

) against other non-Test-playing opposition, with the rivalry against the

United States cricket team The United States national cricket team is the team that represents the United States in international cricket. The team was formerly organised by the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), which became an associate member of ...

being as strong in cricket as it is in other team sports. The match between these two nations is in fact the oldest international fixture in cricket, having first been played in 1844. This international fixture even predates the Olympics by over 50 years. Canada is one of the team's in Division 1 of Associate Members of

who has One Day International and T20 International status. Canadian cricket has tended to take a lower profile than most other sports, and the team tends to be composed of expatriates from more successful cricketing nations either trying to achieve a level of international experience or having been deemed too old for their respective national teams. The 2003 World Cup squad, for example, contained players born in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, and the

Men's

Canada Senior Men's team qualified in April 2009 at the ICC World Cup qualifier held in South Africa to compete in 2011 World Cup, their third World Cup appearance in a row.

Women's

Canada has traditionally had a strong Women's team. Also The Canadian Under 19 team have competed in the Under 19 World Cup on three occasions. In 2002, they were eliminated in the first round, meaning they competed in the plate competition, in which they did not win a game. They repeated this performance in the 2004 competition. The Canadian u19 team competed in the 2014 u19 World Cup in Dubai, finishing 15th. The Canadian women's cricket team made their international debut in September 2006 in a three match series of one-day games against

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to decide which team would represent the Americas region in the Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Ireland in 2007. Canada started well, with a five wicket win in the first win, but Bermuda came back with 24 run win in the second. The third game went down to the wire, with Bermuda triumphing by just 3 runs.

References

External links

Official site of Cricket CanadaTJT National Cricket League website''Cricket and the Meaning of Life''
a 2005 National Film Board of Canada documentary about cricket in Toronto {{Sport in Canada Cricket in Canada,