Cricket night in Canada

 

Not every St. Clair College student from India watches the Punjabi edition of Hockey Night in Canada.

Some SCC students prefer to spend their Saturday nights inside the college’s classic gym participating in a 12-team intramural cricket league.

These students grew up watching teams such as the Mumbai Indians and the Kolkata Knight Riders from the Indian Premier League the same way Canadians grew up watching the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs on CBC.

“In India, people are crazy for cricket,” said Mayar Atodariya, who is studying logistics and supply chain management. This is Antodariya’s second month in Canada and he said he hopes to participate in intramural cricket next season.

For now, Antodariya sits on a bench and spectates inside the classic gym, which is only a fraction of a regulation-size cricket oval. The pitch is regulation 22 yards and roughly the distance between the pitcher’s mound and home plate in baseball.

In cricket, the “bowler” is the equivalent to a pitcher in baseball and they call the batter a “batsman.” If a batsman hits the fences, four runs are automatically scored. Think of it as baseball’s equivalent to an in-the-park grand slam. If the batsman hits the ball out of the park, an automatic six runs are scored.

But in a regulation cricket oval, those fly balls and line drives in the classic gym could have easily been outs. And a “sixer” in a regulation oval would probably have hit the ceiling inside the classic gym and only one run would have been allowed, unless one of the fielders caught the ball. Then it would have been an out.

Instead of a regulation hard ball, tennis balls are used to prevent injuries. In cricket, the fielders do not wear gloves. Tennis balls are wrapped with white electrical tape to prevent excessive bouncing. In the classic gym, Hindi and Punjabi pop music is played over the PA system.

“We play for fun in the off-season because in Windsor there is snow and cold,” said Arshdeep Singh, a hospitality student who helps manage the intramural league on behalf of the Student Athletic Association and is a cricketer on the St. Clair team.

A basketball scoreboard tallies all the runs for the home and visiting teams.  The fouls on the scoreboard indicate the wickets (or outs) and the periods on the scoreboard indicates the overs.

One over is the six balls the bowler will throw to the batsman, unless he gets an out. A wicket is the three sticks in the crease on both sides of the pitch, which the fielders hit by throwing the ball in order to get the batsman out.

In the system played inside the classic gym, there is one bowler, one wicket-keeper (similar to a catcher in baseball) and six fielders. Instead of running around bases towards home plate, two batsmen run up and down the cricket pitch to score runs. It is one inning for both teams and every player gets a turn to bat.

Baseball players participating in intramural cricket are not used to the bowlers throwing a ball that has to hit the ground first.

“It has its differences, but I picked it up pretty quickly the first time I played,” said Kameron Wall, a sports and recreation student and member of the Saints varsity baseball team.