Post card from Canada
From Tandoori Chicken to Satay Ayam to Maple Syrup & just short of Lobsters!!I am newer forum member and have thoroughly enjoyed the posts and the amazing access to high quality equipment the forum offers. I started on the another forum before some members advised me about this one, - So I joined with the sole intention of learning about bats, brands, other gear and especially how to make bats. I am not in it to make money or establish a business but simply due to the love and interest in bats but it is something for the future, that is, until I find Canadian Willow and I will strike Alba Cerulea Gold!!
Most of you would have already guessed by now that I do live in Canada, East Coast to be precise.
Cricket is still confused for bugs here.
My history in cricket is fairly simple, originally from India & grew up in Indonesia. I never had the cricket bug till I was in grade 9, living in Jakarta when Dad used to play in JCA. I always travelled with him on Sunday’s for some fun in the sun and some delish food served all day in the little canteens around the ground – it made up for the lack of proper tea!
Always wanted to play for his team but never got a chance, so to exact my vengeance I joined another team in the league and quickly saw myself getting chances to play and finally ended up opening the batting. I never had the technique to look good but I could hit a ball a long way, apparently my eyes and hands worked well enough to compensate for feet not moving. Had the pleasure of touring Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia & Australia with JCA Xl back in 97-98 when I was a wee one.
So how do I end in Canada when I could have gone anywhere else? Well after my Grade 12 exams I had a choice, or so I thought, to go to Melbourne (RMIT) on scholarship to study and play cricket (Courtesy of one of the Chappell brothers, don’t ask me which one as I don’t remember) but my Dad had other plans, he wanted an Engineer for a son and not some trouble maker playing in the sun all day and roaming the streets. So I was volun-told to go to Canada, a country with no real cricket.
So now I have lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia for 12 years, I am the President of Provincial Cricket Body and was also on the Board of Directors for Cricket Canada last year but have left that position to a good friend of mine, my provincial director. When I moved here 12 years ago I never thought I would be ever playing cricket again let alone running cricket province wide and be involved in national matters. Cricket has a funny way of finding you and for those who love cricket of finding it.
Done so much work and things have evolved so much over the last 5-6 years that I sometimes wonder if I had actually put my energy towards playing cricket rather than making sure cricket is being played I could have made some sort of a mark as player, but this does give me a satisfaction like no other and yes there are selfish reasons behind everything we do, mine is to make sure there is cricket around for when my son gets old enough to play, convincing my wife is another story who would rather see him play Ice Hockey, bloody Canadians and their Ice hockey.
So how do you go from not playing or knowing about any cricket to where I am today? Well it’s simple really:
1 – First you find cricket, if not found train some of your chums at school and tell’em how much better it is to be able to bat all day
2 – Second you make sure you involve yourself with organizing matches, spending all your extra money on gear so your friends can use it.
3 – Then you find yourself being asked to get involved in the local administration as you don’t cause trouble and they need someone to make up the numbers and do the donkey work
4 – After a few years of really painful work, like getting up at 3 in the morning every weekend, driving out picking up friends/team mates and then driving 5-6 hours to go see our provincial neighbors in a friendly match and then driving back the same day after playing 50 overs you start making a reputation that oh yeah this guy is serious, we should give him more work.
5 – Now it gets fun, I was the treasurer of an organization that had nothing to treasure , when I first got a hold of our bank book our balance was in thousands of dollars in debt!!! Forget going anywhere to play matches, we couldn’t even book our own fields
6 – If you have been doing a decent job so far then it’s about time to get pulled into the politics that happen regionally and nationally, you are young so you will be offered money to vote one way or the other, oh wait you are not for sale!! Ok let’s try manipulating you and mess with your head…Not so fast grandpa, I am young and stupid but not blind and heck I am stubborn.
7 – Band together a team of young guys, all friends like you who want to just play cricket and clean the filth locally that is cricket administrators. Oh crap, we are all under 25 have no contacts don’t know what is required to run cricket, things that need done etc., no problem run on the fly, hold on for lots of surprises..
8 – Well you got everything sorted but what happened, where have all the players gone? Its summer so off-course they have all gone home, or at the beach or drinking at the pub chasing tail . How do you fix this? You start a league and start charging people $200/season when in past you have charged nothing!! It works, when people pay they want to play.
9 – Now what do you do? You’ve got a league, things are being noticed, wait wait there is the good old race card coming trying to split everything…Those old administrators never go away, best I heard was: “Listen you vote for me, come with me, I will make you the Captain!!” or “He is an Indian, you are from Pakistan/Australia/NZ/ Or any other country, he would never let you play”
10 – Problem fixed, now we have a proper selection criteria and committee, that you do not go near . Time for some fun, get training, set an example, teach kids at schools, get infrastructural upgrades, get coaches & umpires certified, get government grants, look for sponsors, find no sponsors
11 – You are now approaching 30, time retire and just play cricket….Phew!!
Don’t you mean entering your prime as a batsman? [edit from Buzz]Finally just for Buzz – the teas
I never played in India so don't know what they drink there but when i started in Indonesia ppl used to drink Beer, Smoke and eat meat on a stick during breaks! one guy was specially great at batting after a couple of cold ones & some chicken kebabs , they used to carry special packs of a drink called Pocari Sweat for me as i was a kid and everyone else was older, absolutely disgusting tasting but after fielding for a few hrs in the sun it was heaven..i wish we could drink beer during play now
Tea here in Canada it’s mostly warm water, gatorade, powerade, coffee and sandwiches during breaks, very dull...mostly coffee instead of tea here..
Wish you were here
Tushar
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Topic: A post card from... (Read 6038 times)