Cricket Association formed to promote the game in Swift Current
Some local cricket enthusiasts are aiming to grow the game in Swift Current. The Swift Current Cricket Association was recently formed and on July 24 they held an exhibition kick-off and player recruitment day.
Navjeet Singh is the President of the SCCA and Viju Vijayan is the Vice-president.
“Our plan is to play regularly because the City did this ground for us, so we want to utilize it to the maximum. We planed the association so that we have a regular schedule and then we know who are the teams and who are coming,” said Vijayan. “Our goal is to make at least three teams. Each team will be 11 players.”
They hope to play a couple matches in Swift Current and then eventually form a team to play against teams from Saskatoon and Regina.
“This is kind of the starting and then we’ll see how our players perform. Then we can make a really good team so that we can compete with the other cities. The other cities, like Saskatoon and Regina, have a really good team. That’s our plan is to make one really good team to play the other cities. Then in Swift Current maybe have three teams,” said Vijayan.
“There are a bunch of people in Swift Current that used to play cricket,” added Singh.
They previously held a tournament in 2017 and had three full teams of 11 players.
“We used to play regularly at that time,” added Vijayan. “In 2018, same thing, we did the tournament, we had the same number of players. When Covid started we didn’t play for so long. Now we are just starting back and we are hoping to get more players.”
“It’s been awhile that we haven’t played cricket, but I’m pretty sure until next year we are going to make a big team and represent our city,” said Singh.
Singh is originally from the northern Indian province of Punjab, while Vijayan hails from the southern province of Kerala.
“It’s kind of in our blood,” said Vijayan. “This is what we play everyday back home.”
“It’s not just for guys from India or Pakistan. We want to have players from here. Anyone can join. That’s the purpose of today’s event. It’s kind of like an exhibition. We want everyone to join us and we’ll teach them how to play,” said Vijayan.
“You never know, someone from here can play much better than us,” added Sing. “We just want everybody to try it out here.”
The City has added irrigation and seeded grass at the Windscape Kite Festival site to be used as a cricket field.
“Right now we are pretty happy with this. Last week the City guys were here,” said Vijayan.
“I came to Swift Current in 2017 and I didn’t know the City was going to make this for us,” said Singh. “Viju told me last year that the City was making a cricket pitch for us. I was very surprised. Like in Swift Current it’s pretty cool. We are going to use it very well.”
For more information contact President, Navi at naviss1122@gmail.com, or Vice-president, Viju at 306-750-6167.