ALTHOUGH buoyed by the success of the 2022 season, executives of the Scarborough Cricket Association (SCA), led by dynamic President Shiv Persaud, feel strongly that the growth of the association over the years has been stymied by the lack of available cricket fields to accommodate the demand of the game in Scarborough. An obviously disillusioned and disappointed Persaud pointed out recently that the SCA had to delay 43 new applications for the 2022 season.
Persaud further disclosed that the association has already received 30 new applications for the 2023 season and this figure is expected to increase significantly before the Annual General Meeting at the end of January. Persaud however said that the SCA has been working assiduously with the City with a view to create new facilities but confessed that there are limited space available in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to build cricket fields. As a result, Persaud is of the opinion that facilities will have to be converted for multi-purpose sports use.
According to the SCA President, “we are seeing other municipalities create new fields and investing millions into re-developing existing fields. He referred to the town of Whitby which has a new cricket field – Brooklin Memorial Park and the City of Oshawa which has Stone Street Park.
Persaud also lauded the Brampton authorities for leading the charge in promoting cricket and developing new facilities and improving some of the existing ones with lights.
In an earlier missive, Persaud had stated that City of Toronto’s Cricket Reference Group 20-year cricket strategy to implement five new cricket fields, was not enough and will not be nearly enough in the future and because of this, residents were leaving to go play in surrounding areas where they have better quality of facilities.
“Often the main point that comes up is the size of field that is required for cricket is too large to easily find in a developed City like Toronto. We hope that the City will acknowledge the demand for arguably the fastest growing sport. Cricket is growing in the international standard of hardball and other emerging formats like softball, tape ball and tennis ball. Each format has their own needs,” Persaud stated.
Being one of the most inclusive and diverse cricketing organizations in the GTA) the SCA caters for youths, women, adults and adults primarily over the age of 50.