'This is dream come true': London, Ont. adds third cricket grounds as sport grows with new Canadians

New cricket pitch in London Cricket players in London have a new area to call home. CTV News London's Brent Lale reports.

London now has its first full-size regulation cricket grounds.

“This is brand new, and it’s a dream come true,” said Muhammad Saeed, a London doctor originally from Pakistan who plays weekly with a group of friends.

Each night and weekend, the city’s sports fields are packed and that was starting to become the same with the two cricket grounds at North London Athletic Fields and Silverwoods Park Cricket Grounds.

“It's a growing city with a diverse population. Cricket for us is just like playing basketball and baseball,” said Saeed. “We were looking for different parks that didn’t have concrete and had room for us to play.”

The newest pitch at Northridge Fields on Adelaide St. North opened in May.

“Popularity within the sport has definitely grown as the city's population as has expanded,” said Mike Vandertuin, London’s manager of sport services and development.

Cricket requires a big space, and that is difficult to find in London, so the city worked in collaboration with the local cricket association to develop the new grounds which will be home to both adult and new youth teams.

A large reason for the increased demand is new Canadians coming to London and attending both Fanshawe College and Western University. They are trying to use the field to find a game, but they are largely booked by already established groups.

“When we came here to play, these students were already here, so we said ‘Why don't we play together’?” says Saeed.

One of those young men was experienced cricketer Rudra Solanski from Gujarat India.

“When I was playing in India, we were like district champions over there,” said Solankski, a Fanshawe student.

Before coming to Canada, his friends back home told him there may be opportunities to play competitively here, but he never expected a weekly friendly.

“They were telling me like if you play good cricket, there are some clubs over there,” he said. “But in the big cities, I didn't think that I'll be able to play cricket.”

The city will assess whether a fourth field would be useful as it continues to collect data on which sports in demand.

“The 2019 Parks and Recreation Master Plan specifically talks about emerging sports such as cricket and pickleball and plans for further development of facilities for them over the next several years,” explained Vandertuin.

Solanski has seen many Cricket grounds during his time playing in India, and is impressed with the quality of London’s newest field.

“You can't even get this in India only,” he said. “Even if you're playing the professional cricket, so it's a really good ground.”