Cricket Canada Summer Festival Announced

Cricket Canada has partnered with the West Indies Cricket Board and Cricket Bermuda to bring the Cricket Canada Summer Festival to Mississauga, Ontario this month.

The Festival runs from Wednesday September 8, 2010 to Friday September 17, 2010 at Malton Cricket Club. Canada, West Indies High Performance Centre Squad, and Bermuda will clash in T20 and 50 over cricket action.

These will be Canada’s last home matches of the season prior to participating in the 2011 Cricket World Cup in South Asia in February 2011.

This tournament highlights the special relationship between Canada, Bermuda and the West Indies Cricket Board. The team from the West Indies features several players with first class and international experience led by Kieran Powell who played in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, Devon Smith, and Brandon Bess who has featured in the recent test series against South Africa.

“We are delighted to be part of the tournament in Canada and I’m sure all the players are eagerly looking forward to performing against the opposition. The team has been together for three months and they have worked very hard on improving the skill levels. This trip to Canada is a fantastic opportunity for the players to demonstrate what they have learned. They will also be keen to show that they are moving forward in the overall development of their game.”  said Toby Radford, the Head coach of the Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre

The matches will be a stern test for the Canadian team playing high quality matches ahead of the 2011 Cricket World Cup early next year. Ravin Moorthy, Cricket Canada’s high performance manager was pleased to see the West Indies HPC team coming to Canada.

“We are grateful of the hard work of our board as well as the West Indies Cricket Board and Bermuda Cricket Board to put together a world class event for our players…this is also a tremendous chance for fans to see some high quality cricket and some of the future cricket stars of the West Indies.”

Reg Pearman, President of the Bermuda Cricket Board was equally pleased

“I am pleased to confirm that we continue to provide our senior players with high quality international cricket. This is crucial to both developing their skills to reach this level and also serving as a building block towards the CWC qualifiers in 2013. The BCB has enjoyed a strong relationship with Cricket Canada and the WICB for a very long time and this tri-series is further evidence of this bond. I look forward to a competitive series of matches played in the spirit of the game”

Cricket Canada’s President Ranjit Saini, who put this event together, was eagerly awaiting its start.

“We are very excited to provide fans within the cities of Toronto and Mississauga a chance to see top quality cricket. It will be an exciting September with one of the top associate nations (Ireland) playing at Toronto Cricket Club (August 31 – September 7) and then West Indies HPC team and Bermuda visiting us the following week. This is an amazing opportunity for us to engage our fans in a way we never have before. It will be a month of fun, food, music and spectacular cricket for supporters of all teams and all ages.”

via Cricket Canada