by
Ben Seebaran, 2000
The first reference to cricket in B.C.
dates back to 1852, when according to Aargaret Ormsby, in her book.
"British Columbia, A History"
, the game was being taught to school children.
Click on thumbnail
By 1858,
matches between the Navy and Victoria clubs began to be reported in the
Victoria newspapers, whose sports coverage for two decades, was almost
exclusively devoted to cricket. There are records of two innings matches which
began at noon.
In 1860, the "Westminster
Folk" established a cricket club on the mainland at McLean’s farm in Pitt
River. On the Island, matches were played at Beacon Hill and Colwood. The first
of the Dominion Day inter-city matches between Vancouver and Victoria took
place in 1887 at Larwill Park, which was located at Cambie and Dunsmuir.
In 1892, a cricket field and
pavilion was established at Brockton Point, referred to by Sir Donald Bradman
as the "most scenic ground in the world". The first fixture was a
match between Vancouver and the Californians, with whom a friendly rivalry
started developing since a historic match in California in 1869.
The
following is a chronological record of some of our major ensuing events.
|
Year |
Event |
|
1912 |
B.C Cricket Association formed |
|
1913 |
Australian Touring team visits Vancouver |
|
1914 |
Formation of the B.C Mainland Cricket League |
|
1922 |
B.C enters her first Western Canadian Cricket Tournament and wins it. |
|
1923 |
Vancouver hosts the Western Canadian Cricket Tournament and wins it |
|
1932 |
Australian cricket team good will tour. Sir Don Bradman was the Captain. BC Mainland team defeats Australia by 12 runs. |
|
1936 |
The Vancouver side defeats the Hollywood Cricket Club. Hollywood team included starts as Errol Flynn, Nigel Bruce and Boris Karloff. |
|
1937 |
First visit of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to Vancouver. Subsequent visits by the same club in 1951,1959,1967, 1985 and 1994. |
|
1947 |
Senior Dominion Cricket Championship established. |
|
1959 |
Vancouver Women’s Cricket Association formed |
|
1961 |
Visit of the Emu cricket club |
|
1964 |
Tour by the New Zealand Cricket XI |
|
1968 |
Visit by the Australian Old Collegians |
|
1973 |
Visit by the Kent Cricket Club |
|
1975 |
Visit of the Australian Cricket Test Team
to Canada. Canadian Tour to Windward and Leeward
Islands. Hydrabad cricket team visits Vancouver |
|
1983 |
Provincial tournament is held in Vancouver |
|
1994 |
B.C hosts and wins Senior National Tournament in Vancouver |
|
1995 |
B.C creates and wins North American tournament. |