Greater Sudbury is looking to develop more cricket infrastructure

Greater Sudbury staff will prepare a business plan to set up additional cricket facilities in the city. 

It's a testament to the exponential growth the sport has experienced since being formally introduced in the area about a decade ago. 

"We were just four or five players at the beginning, and now we have more than 200 registered members," says the president of the Big Nickel Cricket Club, Tarang Ingle.

There is only one cricket facility in the city at the moment and it is located in Capreol. 

This creates traveling logistics for many players, especially the ones who live in the downtown core and don't have access to a vehicle. 

Ward 8 councillor Al Sizer presented a motion to the community and emergency services committee on Monday to ask city staff to look into setting up a more accessible cricket pitch. 

He says that, in addition to concerns over distance, there is also a need to develop a pitch that would be better suited for higher level competitions. 

"Setting up a facility is not complicated," said Sizer, adding that large fields with grass can be converted into cricket pitches.

"It can be expensive if you're doing it from scratch, but I'm hoping we will find existing facilities that we will be able to convert to a cricket field and not incur that much cost," he said. 

Sizer adds that part of the facility could also be used by other minor sport associations when not being used for cricket. 

City staff is expected to produce a report detailing possible locations, costs, and funding options linked to this project by fall. 

Sizer hopes the report will be ready in time to be included in the next budget deliberations. 

"If we are fortunate enough to have this approved, my best bet is that we could set it up by 2025," he said. 

An increasingly popular sport 

Many of the players in the Northern Ontario Cricket League (NOCL) are new Canadians with ties to countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia, where the sport is very popular. 

But Ingle says he's witnessed a lot of interest from other groups, too. 

"When we play in Capreol there are a lot of people nearby playing baseball and they come over, wanting to try out cricket and join our club," he said. 

"People want to learn cricket, but we don't have a proper facility to teach them or show them how it's done," he said.

The NOCL hosts a tournament every year, in addition to its regular season. Teams from Timmins, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury and North Bay compete for the top spot.

This year, the event will be hosted at the Capreol field on August 26 and 27. 

Big Nickel Cricket Club's team has historically done very well in this tournament, but there might be surprises this year, according to Ingle. 

"We lost against Sault Ste. Marie's team during the finals," he said. "But our players will give everything they have to win."