Growing demand for cricket infrastructure in Greater Sudbury

The sport of cricket growing in northern Ontario The Timmins Tigers cricket team hosted teams from Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay to compete for the Mayor's Cup this weekend.

It’s the world’s second-most popular sport that most people in North America know little about.

While not many people in northern Ontario grew up playing cricket, the surging population of international students has created a growing demand in places like Greater Sudbury for places to play.

Locally, about 500 people play cricket, with the Doug Mohns Park in Capreol hosting the Big Nickel Cricket Club, which is a member of the Northern Ontario Cricket League, Cricket Council of Ontario and Cricket Canada.

“The Big Nickel Cricket Club coordinates transportation and carpooling to and from Capreol for players who do not have access to personal vehicles,” said a staff report on a proposal to develop a proper cricket oval in the city.

“There are no outdoor cricket batting cages in Sudbury. There is one private indoor batting cage available at the Sudbury Baseball Academy which members of Big Nickel Cricket Club practice in the winter months.”

In August, the club hosted eight local teams and more than 120 local players for a two-day tournament.

ATTRACTING NEWCOMERS

The staff report said the city’s goal of growing to 200,000 residents by 2050 would be boosted if the city had a cricket oval.

“Attracting newcomers from the South Asian community can be strengthened by increasing access to sport and recreation activities such as cricket,” the report said.

“Most South Asian immigrants grow up playing cricket, following cricket and are avid fans of the game.”

Many international students in Sudbury come from northern India, the report said, a hotbed for cricket.

“To Punjabis people, ‘cricket is life’ and the region of India has produced some of the world’s best cricket players,” the report said.

“Many members of this community came to Sudbury through Cambrian College studies and have chosen to stay and call Sudbury home. The community is also seeing families moving from the Greater Toronto Area given the great lifestyle Sudbury has to offer.”

Currently, they play cricket at the Twin Forks baseball diamond and at Queen Elizabeth Public School, meeting up with members of the Sudbury Malayala Samajam.

ELITE CRICKET PLAYERS

“Several members from this community play elite cricket with BNCC in Capreol and travel to tournaments outside of Sudbury,” the report said.

“There are players from Australia and Bangladesh who play recreationally with this group.”

In northern Ontario, Timmins and Thunder Bay have converted existing fields to accommodate cricket.

“Timmins created a cricket ground which held their inaugural tournament in 2023 and recently opened their first indoor cricket space for players to practise batting and bowling,” the report said.

“The city converted unused space at one of their arenas into a batting cage for local cricket players.”

The report said there is demand for at least one cricket facility in Sudbury, with the best option to convert an existing soccer pitch or baseball diamond.

The best location is in the Sudbury area near colleges and transit to make it easier for players to get there.

REQUIRES A LOT OF GREENSPACE

One challenge is that a cricket ground covers the equivalent of two full-sized soccer fields and finding that much space is difficult.

The Countryside sports complex in the South End of the city is the recommended site, with an estimated price tag of $2 million. The Moonlight Baseball field is another potential location, since it was only booked 19.5 hours in 2023.

“This site would require conversion and expansion,” the report said.

“There would be significant costs involved with tree removal, site leveling and groundwork. The site also has limited parking and other supporting amenities.”

The Kinsmen Soccer Fields is another option, but it is heavily used already and there is also a drainage channel between the existing fields that would require further investigation.

Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée told a city finance meeting earlier this month that the Capreol field has created a lot of buzz. But it has safety concerns and it’s difficult for players to travel there.

“The pitch in Capreol is not ideal for the long term -- unless the city would convert the track into full greenspace,” Labbée said in a message to CTV.

“Our staff have done a great job at trying to accommodate the cricket players with the greenspace we do have available … It's difficult/challenging because many of our greenspace fields have baseball, soccer or football so it's tough to schedule around those other sports.”

While there is demand, the business case wasn’t approved during this round of budget talks because of the cost.

Labbée said expenditures for the first year were only $7,000 but it got much more expensive after that.

“Subsequent year investments would have been costly and we were trying to keep the tax levy increase as low as possible,” she said.