The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Is Cricket Finally Getting its Due in Canada?

Episode Date: June 10, 2024

Despite being declared the national sport by Canada's first prime minister John A. MacDonald in 1867, cricket didn't quite take off in Canada in the way it has in other parts of the world. But that's changed recently with a steady influx of leagues and young talent all over the country, and Canada qualifying for its first ever T20 World Cup. What accounts for this resurgence and what types of investments are needed to ensure cricket continues to thrive here?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Cricket runs in Yuvraj's blood. Not only is he the son of immigrants from India, a country considered by many to be a powerhouse in the sport, but he's been swinging a cricket bat almost as long as he's been walking. I got into the sport through my dad. He introduced me to his game at a really young age. I was like three years old. He used to take me to his games, and that's where I got my interest in playing cricket. Earlier this year, at only 17 years old, Yuvraj realized a longstanding dream

when he was selected to represent the Canadian national team in an international tournament. Worked away down to deep third, he's going to get one, he's going to get more, he's going to get four. Century for the 17-year-old, highly talented, left-handed Yuvraj Samra. Take a bow, young man. Soak it in. Yuvraj Samra, 17 years bow young man, soak it in. Making the team, I feel like it was an honour,

it was a dream come true. Team Canada recently made its T20 World Cup debut against the US. And while Yuvraj is not on that roster, he represents a steady flow of talent ready to take the field for the national team. Canada's participation in the World Cup has put a spotlight on the sport here. But surprisingly, cricket has a rich history in this country. In 1867, Canada's first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, declared cricket the country's national sport.

But you can even go further back. The first ever international match was played between the US, seen here, and Canada in New York in 1844. And in 1827, George A. Barber, an English school teacher, played a key role in setting up the Toronto Cricket Club, and came to be known as the father of Canadian cricket. There are three forms of cricket, each format with its own set of rules. Test cricket, the oldest format, usually played over five days. One-day cricket, played over approximately seven hours.

And the newest and most lucrative format, 20-over cricket, or T20 cricket, played over four hours, similar to a baseball game. Cricket is played between two teams of 11 players on a large oval field. The center of the field is known as the pitch, which measures about 20 meters in length. The outer perimeter of the playing field is known as the boundary. When a team is fielding, all 11 players are on the field at the same time, nine of whom are out in the field in various positions. There's one bowler, similar to a pitcher in baseball, and one wicket-keeper, who stands

behind the stumps. Think of them as the catcher. And the team that's batting has not one, but two players standing on opposite ends of the pitch. Scoring runs in cricket can be done in a few different ways. To score one run, the batter hits the ball within the boundary and runs to the opposite end of the pitch, while their batting teammate runs in the other direction. Runs can also be accumulated without running the length of the pitch. If a ball hits the ground before touching the boundary, that adds four runs to the total score. When a batter hits the ball over the boundary, that adds six runs to the total score. Couple of bounces, four runs. When a batter hits the ball over the boundary, that adds six runs to the total score.

Very good. From Jimmy Nisha. Six-number! There are several ways for the fielding team to get a batter out. If a bowler throws the ball and knocks off the bales of the stumps. Passing us.

If a fielder or wicket keeper catches the ball before it hits the ground, similar to a fly out in baseball. Or a batter is declared out when they're running the length of the pitch but do not cross the line before the fielding team knocks off the bales of the stumps. A match is won when one team outscores the other. Cricket is a global sport, played across six continents in over 100 countries, including Australia, England, India, Pakistan, South Africa, the West Indies, United States and Canada. Historically, there is a perception of cricket as a stuffy, colonial, upper-class sport. Despite its history and its popularity worldwide, cricket never really took off in Canada until recently.

When I was playing cricket as a kid, nobody played cricket. It was a rarity to say you played cricket. Four years old, had played a lot of, you could call, American traditional sports, like hockey, baseball and soccer. But again, seeing one World Cup game, it was India versus Pakistan game. In the 2003 World Cup, that inspired me to pick up a cricket bat instead of a baseball bat. Both John Stevenson and Rahul Srinivasan are hoping to change that and continue to grow the sport here in Canada. It's got one of the largest viewerships internationally. Fans from Pakistan and India and and of course, Australia,

New Zealand, and the UK. It's not native to North America. It didn't originate from North America. So hockey, football, basketball all originated from this country, whereas cricket was not part of a North American culture and ethos. The emergence of the sport has been dramatic, and to see us qualifying for the Worlds is amazing.

A marketing research report from Cultural IQ found cricket to be one of the fastest-growing sports in Canada, with an estimated 5 million fans. Last ball of the innings. And he's put it away. Oh, has he? Yes, into the crowd. One of the reasons?

The creation of the shortest format, T20 cricket, about two decades ago. The game now is very much geared to engaging with young people, to really get excited about a fast-paced sport that really competes with basketball and baseball and football in terms of time of game, but more importantly frequency of energy. According to Rahul, there is still a lot of work to be done to grow the sport in Canada, but suggests three main areas of focus to capitalize on this momentum. The players, the fans and the infrastructure. The way that we see it is there's plenty of fans, there's plenty of people who are new to canada or who have been living in canada who support cricket in general that's not an issue the number of players is not

an issue as well i think when it comes to players the investments in aligning the player ecosystem need to be made and what i mean by that is a young player needs to know what competitions do i need to take part in to actually make a national team how How do I find coaching? How do I find facilities? And then I would say the third point of the triangle, which is truly the weaknesses, infrastructure. Our belief is that when there is adequate cricket infrastructure here in this country, that it will realize its potential as the fastest growing sport in Canada.

I think when you look at the tailwinds from immigration and you see this inflection point that we're seeing now in terms of multiple stakeholders investing in the sport, it's only a matter of time. I think by 2031 cricket will be a top five sport in this country and there's really no reason for it not to become that. As for Yuvraj, he has seen the game grow first hand, from stiffer competition and more and more local leagues cropping up. His main focus remains the same, represent Canada at cricket's highest level, one bat at a time.

My hope is that Canada competes against the top five countries. But we play up there, and we keep playing up there. Thank you.