With voices and movements leading the
cause for gender equity in the Fall of
2020 Cricket Canada’s new Board took
the progressive step of creating a Women’s
Coordinator position and establishing a Women’s
Committee to focus on promoting and growing
the game in Canada.
Over the last couple of months the Committee
has deliberated and presented to Cricket
Canada’s management a competition
structure and Player Qualification Pathway to be
established on a permanent basis. Its purpose is
to foster continuous engagement of players, and
to encourage grassroots development through
providing incentives for clubs to both set up new
women’s team as well as increase the effort in
recruiting new talent.
On the committee’s recommendation the Board
approved the establishment of an independent
National Women’s Selection Committee to
oversee the selection of senior and U19 women’s
teams. The nominations to this committee are
ongoing and its establishment is targeted to be
completed before the end of the year.
Amidst a pandemic that has altered the rules of
how we engage with each other, all team sports
have had to reimagine their practice and training
methodologies in order to maintain a routine
and discipline for their athletes. The Committee
recognised this challenge and recommended an
online fitness platform allowing players from across
the country to not only have the experience of
a structured and scientific approach to strength
and conditioning but also to be able to engage
and encourage each other; an important
element in building positive team dynamics.
Players that have participated in this training have
provided extremely positive feedback resulting in
an extension of the program. Our goal is to make
use of this time to ensure that players are ready
to hit the ground running when cricket training
commences, hopefully very soon.
2021 is shaping up to be a busy and very exciting
year for women’s cricket in Canada. Planning
is in the works for both Western and Eastern T20
competitions beginning as early as May 2021,
giving players the opportunity for provincial
representation and competition. Following the
regional competitions, Cricket Canada will host
a Women’s Nationals to identify players who will
represent Canada at the international level. Fitness,
participation, teamwork and attitude will all be key
selection criteria for players hoping to make the
cut.
Canada Day Cup
For the sheer joy of participation and enjoying the
game of cricket, clubs across the county will for the
first time have the opportunity of participating on
the National Stage. To encourage more women
and girls to give cricket a try, the Committee has
proposed organising an annual National Club
level competition to be co-sponsored by Cricket
Canada. The tournament will be hosted on the
Canada Day long weekend with Calgary being
the hosts in 2021.
ICC Americas T20 Qualifier
Scheduled from 11-18 Sep 2021, the competition
has been extended to include Brazil and Argentina
making it a 4 nation challenge along with Canada
and the United States. The Americas Cup has
always been a great opportunity for developing
cricket countries in this region as the pathway to a
spot at the World Cup Qualifiers. In the last edition
that was played between Canada and the USA in
2019, Canada who were the defending champions
from 2012, lost 3-0 to the USA. With increased
competition to secure the berth to the World Cup
qualifier Canadian players will have to step up
their preparations immensely if they are to reverse
the huge loss of 2019 and take on the additional
challenge posed by young, athletic and spirited
teams form South America.
Commonwealth Games Qualifier
With women’s cricket debuting in the
Commonwealth Games 2022, ICC along with the
Common Wealth Games Federation (CGF) has
announced a qualifier event for the 8th place team
for the competition. Canada, is uniquely placed as
the largest Commonwealth Nation in the America’s
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region to be able to qualify for this competition. However, insufficient international matches has
resulted in the Canadian Women’s Cricket Team not making the ICC T20I Rankings list by virtue of not
having participated in a minimum of 6 international games in the last 4-5 years. A sobering statistic!
The Women’s Committee has urged the Board to make efforts to achieve the qualification
requirement before the ICC deadline and provide the Women’s team an opportunity to compete
at the CGF. Considering that Hamilton (Ontario) is in contention to host the next Commonwealth
Games, it is in Canada’s gain to popularise the women’s game and attract and develop new talent.
Bilateral Series
With ICC’s strategy of relying on Rankings and Meritocracy for qualification for ICC events, it is
imperative that the Women’s team has sufficient opportunity to maintain and move up the rankings
table. A series is being planned for the 2020-2021 winter season to achieve this objective and to
ensure that there are no long breaks away from the game on the women’s calendar.
ICC Americas T20 Qualifier
Scheduled from 11-18 Sep 2021, the competition has been extended to include Brazil and Argentina
making it a 4 nation challenge along with Canada and the United States. The Americas Cup has
always been a great opportunity for developing cricket countries in this region as the pathway to a
spot at the World Cup Qualifiers. In the last edition that was played between Canada and the USA
in 2019, Canada who were the defending champions from 2012, lost 3-0 to the USA. With increased
competition to secure the berth to the World Cup qualifier Canadian players will have to step up
their preparations immensely if they are to reverse the huge loss of 2019 and take on the additional
challenge posed by young, athletic and spirited teams form South America.
AN EXCITING 2021 BECKONS FOR CANADIAN WOMEN’S CRICKET!
