Cricket is not a sport that generally comes to mind when one thinks of Saskatchewan summer sports.
Instead it鈥檚 baseball, football and fishing that come to the forefront of the cerebral cortex.
But that might just change as cricket in the province has been on the rise over the past two years, with the Saskatchewan Cricket Association evolving from nine teams in 2013 to 16 in 2014 and now 24 in 2015, making cricket one of the fastest growing sports in the province. 鈥淭he sport is really growing,鈥� suggested Saskatchewan Cricket Association board member and Yorkton Cricket Association (YCA) President Thom Barker, 鈥淣ow we have teams in Estevan and Moose Jaw, Battlefords is coming up and Prince Albert probably within the next year or so, so that鈥檚 great.鈥�
That growth is in large part due to local athletes embracing the 鈥榝oreign鈥� game; something that Barker hopes will continue to happen in Yorkton ahead of the 2015 cricket season, scheduled to begin in mid-May. 鈥淲e鈥檙e always looking for new people to come out and try it out,鈥� said Barker, adding that the club is not just looking for experienced players, but those new to the game or simply interested. 鈥淲e know we鈥檝e got lots and lots of people in Yorkton who play but don鈥檛 even know we exist right now. We also know that there might be people who are interested in the sport but again don鈥檛 even know about us.
鈥淪o we really need to get the word out that there is a cricket club here.鈥�
But Barker is aware that getting the word out is the easy part.
Convincing people to give the sport a try, however, is much more difficult. Especially when many people are wary of opening their wallets for a sport they may or may not get involved in.
However Barker says that people need not worry about spending money to initially get involved in cricket. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no fee. The Cricket Association is fortunate enough to have some really great sponsors step up so the Association takes care of all the outreach and things like booking the gym time,鈥� mentioned Barker, adding that all anyone has to do to become involved with the Yorkton Cricket Club is show up at an indoor training session, which will start at the beginning of April and take place at the Gallagher Centre or Gloria Hayden Centre. 鈥淧eople can just come out and even just watch if they want but we鈥檙e also always happy to show them how to do it; how to bowl the ball which is different than pitching a ball in baseball and how to bat which is almost more like blocking more than it is hitting if you think about baseball.鈥�
Barker then mentioned that there are also added bonuses for those that decide to play cricket and then excel at it. 鈥淭he other amazing thing that people don鈥檛 realize is that there is also a provincial team that鈥檚 made up of players from the Saskatchewan league,鈥� offered Barker, continuing, 鈥淭hey travel to and host teams from Alberta and Manitoba mostly and we鈥檝e actually had a couple of players go on to play for Team Canada.
鈥淭here is a wide variety of cricket talent in the province.鈥�
The Yorkton Cricket Club was founded in 2013 by then President Faisal Anwar and became the first cricket club outside of Regina and Saskatoon to compete in the Saskatchewan Cricket League.
To contact the Yorkton Cricket Club please join their Facebook page 鈥榊orkton Yorkers鈥� or call (306)-641-6215 for Thom or (306)-620-3737 for Hitesh Mankotia (Team President).
