City cricket league feels slighted

The City of Saskatoon is sticking with its approach to allocating sports-field playing time, despite an apparent conflict over access to the city’s cricket oval last year.

City council’s planning, development and community services committee considered a report on Monday in response to a complaint by the Saskatoon Cricket Association.

“We’ve been at it for some time and I think our procedure is appropriate,” Randy Grauer, the city’s general manager of community services, told the meeting.

Cricket association president Khawaja Mustafa Rashid wrote to the city in August, complaining that the city allocated half of the association’s bookings during the 2016 season to an upstart league.

That league dismantled midway through the 2016 season, Rashid wrote. That left Saturdays open, with nobody using the cricket oval at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo, he added.

Rashid claimed the city had cancelled its contract with his association and revamped the schedule to accommodate the new league.

A city report says the city allocates space at its 300 fields based on an application deadline of Jan. 31 for league play and tournaments. After that, requests are considered in the order in which they are received, pending field availability.

The report says the city first tries to accommodate groups that have previously booked sports fields, but adds the city must consider requests from new leagues as well.

A new cricket oval in Pierre Radisson Park is expected to be available for league play and tournaments this year. The city also has portable cricket fields to accommodate increased demand, Grauer said.

The Saskatoon Cricket Association was established in 2002, according to Rashid’s letter, and helped build the existing oval and the new one at Pierre Radisson Park.