Photo courtesy of the Ryerson Student Cricket Assocation

Ontario Inter-University champs pose for their team photo after going a perfect 7-0. The tournament took place in King City from July 12-19.

There are 605 members in the Ryerson Student Cricket Association, making it the second largest group on campus.

Its best players were undefeated in last summer’s Provincial Inter-University Championship when they went up against 10 other Ontario teams.

But you won’t find the trophy they won anywhere on campus.

And even the head of the sports department didn’t know of the team’s existence.

That’s because there’s no official cricket league in Canadian university sports, and Ryerson’s cricketers aren’t recognized as a club.  
 
“I didn’t know we had a cricket team,” said Jean Kennedy, director of sports and recreation. “I know other schools don’t have teams yet and you need to have enough teams to make it work.”

Abhimanyu Sharma, a recently graduated information technology student, has tried to make it work at Ryerson for years. And he won’t be quitting anytime soon. As the National Chair of the Canadian Cricket Association, Sharma has spent his entire university career organizing cricket not only at Ryerson but for universities and colleges across Canada.

The provincial tournament in July – which included teams from Western, McMaster and Brock – was the result of his efforts. It had a budget of over $25,000.

Photo courtesy of the Ryerson Student Cricket Association

A batter runs it out after a slash in game action this summer. The team averaged over 115 runs per game.

  
Sharma hopes this recent success will finally put cricket on the map at Ryerson.
   
“It’s about Ryerson, because I want them to recognize our efforts,” he said. “Ryerson needs to be proud of having this cricket team.”
 
Ryerson went 7-0 for the tournament and defeated McMaster in the final.

“There were some really good schools there, but we really gelled,” he said. “All the students playing for different teams at Ryerson came together.”
   
The cricket club includes six to eight intramural teams at Ryerson that play in the gym on Mondays from 12 to 2 p.m. and Fridays from 2 to 4 p.m.  The “official” cricket team, which participated in the tournament, practises separately.
   
Though the university has yet to recognize it, Ryerson’s cricket club is recognized by the Canadian Cricket Association and the International Cricket Council.
   
While Kennedy was surprised to learn about the cricket team, she added that Ryerson isn’t opposed to a team, and would be open to talking about it.
   
“The first step is for them to join (the department) as a sports club,” she said. “It’s a new sport to Canada, and we should be looking at it with the number of people interested.”  
   
Kennedy pointed out that money has been spent on cricket at Ryerson, including a $6,000 cricket mat and several hundred dollars for bats.
   
Sharma said David Dubois, the former director of sports and recreation, was an avid supporter of his cause.  

He thinks the departmental shakeup, when Dubois was released last spring, erased much of the progress that had been made.
   
“He was sincere in our initiative and wanted to help us,” Sharma said.
   
But the issue extends far beyond Ryerson’s borders. It is only one of many Ontario universities seeking legitimacy for its cricket program.
Mudebbir Ahmed, president of the cricket association at Seneca College, says he has over 80 members. Seneca was one of the 10 teams that participated in the provincial championship.  
   
“The tournament in the summer has come a long way,” he said. “It was very positive for the league.”
   
Ahmed credits Sharma for how far university cricket has come in the past year.
   
“He is the kind of person that will make cricket more recognized,” Ahmed said. “He’s worked very hard for this. It will happen eventually. It just needs time.”
   
Sharma agrees, but said he feels like he’s been waiting long enough.
   
“We need more people to come on board to make this a reality,” he said.” The more you keep going ahead in the process, without actually getting anywhere, you start to worry it’s just not going to happen.”