I am writing this email in regards to that ridiculous article I saw in The Weekly Voice Vol.18 No.9.
First of all, the man who represents this article hasn’t the slightest clue of cricketing prowess whatsoever, let alone knowledge of Canadian cricket. He is merely another one of your typical money greedy administrators that have been exploiting cricket in Canada for many decades.
In the article he spoke about how Canadian Cricket is at its lowest point that it has ever been in many years, and that there are not any proper coaches, administrators, players, etc.
I have been involved with cricket in Canada for more then 25 years as a player. My dad represented Canada in the 90′s. I have played in the Toronto District Cricket Association since I was 11 years old.
The best players in Canada all reside in Ontario, but more specifically in Toronto. Despite this situation, all the power that is held in Cricket Canada comes from the Western provinces. This would not be a big deal, but they haven’t the slightest clue about cricket in those provinces, as Canadians don’t have the slightest clue about cricket in general.
As far as Mike Kendall is concerned and his so called genuine concern for the state of cricket in Canada. Ask Mike how the Ontario Cricket Association held a so-called training camp, where they invited the great Mudasser Nasir and Rodney Marsh as coach/selectors. They duped a bunch of young players (including myself), told us that 15 players would be selected to go to Dubai and train in their new “state of the art facilities”. They also went onto to say that players would be selected to some 20/20 teams depending on the talent, but mainly would be coached and play games.
This was a dream come true for most of us. The first time we could get a chance to prove our talents in front of two ex national players who knew the game and would pick players based on their talent and not through political advantage.
They charged each player $500 odd dollars for a 1 week training camp. I know certain players that were there had to borrow the money. It was really sad because they had no intentions of having this camp in Dubai.
This whole circus was endorsed by none other then Mike Kendall. Now this is the same person that has the audacity to write an article about the state of Cricket in Canada. First of all to bring in anyone from the West Indies on any level can not have any merit. Let’s take a good look at the state of cricket in the West Indies. They can’t even run cricket in their own nation let alone think about coming to a situation like the one in Canada. West Indians have had their run at cricket in Canada for many decades, at all levels – coaching, administration and we are still picking up the pieces from the damages they have left. They were the ones taking all the money right from the beginning and that is what hindered cricket at its grass roots. All the money that was supposed to go into infrastructure, coaching and developing was all frittered away. To bring in anyone of these people from any country in the West Indies will and has already proven in the past to be a big mistake.
Right now although we are suffering in terms of Canada’s ability to qualify for the big tournaments. The one good thing we have going for us is a very talented and youthful team. This has never been the case in the past. Average age for a Canadian team in the past was 40. We should be thrilled that yes we do have a future and yes they can have a chance to improve. Now we have to bring in the right administration and right coaching alongside with funding and infrastructure. However, West Indians have had their chance and have done nothing but make the situation worst. It is nothing personal against them but they are just not the right people for Canadian cricket. They are riddled with issues and plagued with controversy within their own boards why should we bring them into ours?
Jason Shanthikumar
Toronto