Cricket in Toronto received another boost this past Saturday as teams from Ryerson, York and all three U of T campuses converged at the Unity Cricket and Sports Centre in Mississauga for a day-long cricket tournament. The event, which attracted eight teams in total, ended in victory for the First Year Engineers, as they beat the U of T Scarborough Titans, 51 runs (2 out) to 49 (3 out).

The indoor event marked the first multiple-university cricket tournament to be held in Ontario, and was organised by the cricket board of the Muslim Students Association (MSA). It followed on the success of an October tri-campus tournament, held at U of T Mississauga, in which the UTM Eagles prevailed.

This past Saturday, the defending champ Eagles succeeded in reaching the semi-finals, where they lost to the First Year Engineers (from the St. George campus), 64 runs to 62. Also in the semi-finals, The UTSC Titans succeeded in besting the Pakistani Commandos, also from St. George, 70 runs to 63, before their luck deserted them in the close final. Ryerson and York were eliminated early in the tournament, ensuring that, whatever the outcome of the semis, the final would be an all U of T affair.

The First Year Engineers’ captain, Muhammad Saad Khan, was ecstatic at his team’s victory, describing it as “awesome. Last time we lost in the semis. Today, there was only one team to win, and we won.” Saad Khan expects his team, along with most of the others, to participate in the next tournament, tentatively scheduled for February.

Faraz Siddiqui, of the MSA, was pleased with the turnout, noting that nine teams were turned away from the packed event because of time considerations. He believed that the tournament would go a long way towards promoting cricket in Canada which, even at U of T, was only limited to an annual tournament in the Athletics Centre. Due to the lack of space, “when the weather was good, the guys would play on King’s College circle for practice,” said Siddiqui.

Eventually, sustained pressure won the use of the UTM Athletics Centre for the October tri-campus tournament. Since then, university cricket in Ontario seems to be approaching a boom period. “[The October tournament] was the first properly organised tri-campus cricket tournament,” explained Siddiqui. “Now we’ve got teams from other universities. We plan to approach the university to accept regular cricket hours. We need our teams to train.”

The event drew a smattering of local sponsors, such as TCS Express, which sponsored the trophy as well as the refreshments, Lahore Biryahi House, Popeye’s Chicken and Dufferin Mazda. The Unity Cricket and Sports Centre has been host to local cricket initiatives since April 2003.