Canadian cricket already benefiting from boost of impending Olympic return

CBC

a day ago

Amid the excitement of flag football coming to the Olympics, another sport will also join the Los Angeles 2028 program.
For the first time since 1900, cricket — in the forms of men's and women's T20 tournaments — will be contested in California.
And Canadian women's national team player Achini Perera is hoping to be part of the action.
"I remember in 2010, when Sidney Crosby [scored] in overtime, I was sitting there with my family and watching it — like that stage is insane. I almost wondered as a kid, like, 'Oh, why isn't cricket in there?'" Perera said.
Now, of course, it is — not only in Los Angeles, but also in Brisbane 2032.
However, Perera and Canada's women's team face an uphill climb to qualifying as the 31st-ranked squad for a tournament that will feature just six teams per gender.
Still, the goal for Perera and Cricket Canada is for the sport's reintroduction to the Olympics to light a fuse that brings the game to more people across the country and eventually leads to greater success at the elite level.
The process continues Saturday, when the first-ever Cricket to Conquer Cancer fundraiser will take place at Celebration Square in Mississauga, Ont. Meanwhile, in downtown Toronto, the Blue Jays partnered with Cricket Canada on a warm-up jacket giveaway for their game that day.
"It won't be the sole thing that puts cricket on the map in Canada, but it's a very good starting point. And it isn't speaking only to the already growing ethnic population, it's also speaking to Canadians who will be loving the Blue Jays, who will be loving the Raptors and saying, well, hello, there's another sport here," said Carlos Brathwaite, the former captain of the West Indies men's T20 team.
"It's the second biggest sport in the world. Come hold a bat, come hold a ball, try your luck at this. And if you can convert 10 per cent of the people who didn't know about cricket before the event and have them showing any interest, I think that'd be a win."
Brathwaite and Perera will be joined by celebrities like Dwayne De Rosario, Jamaal Magloire and Jully Black at the fundraiser for cancer research hosted by the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.
It's a cause close to Brathwaite's heart. The Barbadian's mom survived breast cancer, which was his impetus for getting involved.
CAA Centre in Brampton, Ont. to stage new Canada Super 60 cricket league in July
Through the planning process, which began with a media launch last May, he connected with fellow cricketer Kenroy Williams, who had survived his own bout with breast cancer.
However, Williams' cancer returned last year and he died at 40 in November. Along with Brathwaite, Williams' uncle and other Barbadian cricketers will be present at the event in Mississauga.
"Hopefully an emotional day is the start of a long-standing relationship between the people of Barbados and the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. And if Kenroy and his interest in participating in the event could be catalyst to that, then that would make me a very happy man," Brathwaite said.
Brathwaite said he had one stipulation for joining the event as an ambassador a year ago — he refused to let the fundraiser become a "pity party."
Which means that while the cause will be front and centre, the display of cricket will also be crucial.
A cricket resurgence
He noted that the first-ever cricket match in 1844 was contested between Canada and the U.S.
"So there is a history there and there is kind of a modern renaissance, a resurgence of the sport. I think what Cricket to Conquer Cancer can do is kind of bridge that gap between who knows about it and who doesn't," Brathwaite said.
Perera, 24, has known about the sport for her entire life. From a young age, she would follow her older brother to games, wearing the standard all-white uniform just in case she got the call.
Then one day, when she was six, Perera's brother's team was down a player. Perera turned that one match into regular appearances, and even wore her brother's oversized equipment until she got her own gear — including an age- and weight-appropriate bat — when she was 10.
"I was like, wow, there's such a huge difference," she said.
When Perera was 12, she was recognized by Cricket Canada coach George Codrington and invited to try out for the national team. At 19, Perera made her Team Canada debut, and she's been a fixture ever since.
"Growing up with [the team] along with my brother, they were so respectful. They were always like, 'OK, Achini, come and bowl. We'll back you up and everything.' And whenever I was batting, like, 'Oh, this is what you do,'" Perera said.
Now, she's hoping to give back to the cricket community. Within the national team, she's already taken up coaching and campaigned for more intermingling of the U15, U19 and senior teams so the younger athletes can learn the sport just like she did nearly two decades ago.
Cricket has come a long way since her start in the sport — Perera noted the dome coming to Brampton, Ont., that will let athletes practise year-round.
Through her Instagram, Perera is hoping to show young girls that top-level cricket can be a reality in Canada.
"I know a lot of our youth girls are watching that. So I try to post with other youth girls, like example from USA or they're from West Indies or even Argentina. I'm always trying to encourage them as well as encouraging the Canadian girls here so they know there actually are girls my age playing abroad," she said.
The "absolute dream" for Perera would be to influence a Canadian appearance at the Olympics — whether through her play or her efforts with the next generation.