Cricket enjoys new home

The Westman Cricket Association is approaching the end of its first season playing at Canadian Packers Sports Complex and Vice-President Kushang Patel is thrilled with the more permanent situation, though it does come with some challenges.

“Overall, the tournaments went well. We are about to finish the season. People enjoyed it. It’s nice,” said Patel.

Patel, 37, has lived in Brandon since 2012 and has played cricket in the town since 2018.

When the group started playing cricket in Brandon, they used multiple workarounds to avoid the issue of a missing dedicated field for cricket. At first, they played at local schools that allowed them to make use of their fields on the weekends.

Later, they played at Simplot Millenium Park after forming a partnership with Brandon Minor Baseball and the Westman Youth Football Association to build the first dedicated cricket field at the facility.

Unfortunately, that arrangement fell through two years ago and the Westman Cricket Association was once again forced to look to alternative options to keep their sport going.

The development of the Canadian Packer’s Sports Complex, which was scheduled to be completed this year, gave the group a new opportunity. Part of the complex included the construction of the McCain Cricket Field.

For the first time since the days at Simplot, the Westman Cricket Association held this year’s cricket tournament on their own field, this time at the Canadian Packer’s Sports Complex.

“A few years ago, we did not have a dedicated cricket field,” said Patel. “We are now lucky that we have the cricket field in the city, managed by the City of Brandon.”

The fact that the field is run by the city is an important one. For Patel and other members of the group it’s the assurance their sport has a more permanent presence in the city.

The field is beautiful, with thick lush grass surrounding the pitch. It’s regulation size, with a line that traces a wide circle 65 metres from the pitch.

It also came with an area for practice nets that are free to use.

“We have the huge open area, we have the practice nets,” said Patel. “That is really helpful for players to come practise during the weekdays so they can efficiently play during games on the weekend.”

That said, the field comes with a few challenges that are inhibiting the group from building the sport to the extent they would like. The primary issue is cost.

“Ninety per cent of our expenses are going into the cricket pitch rental,” said Patel.

Currently, it costs $640 to rent the field for a day. That means the Westman Cricket Association is shelling out $1,280 for a weekend. That cost adds up quickly when the group plays every weekend from the end of May through September.

“At Simplot, the rent was around $8,000 for a full season. It was from the end of May all the way till the end of September,” said Patel. “Compared to here, it’s not even September yet, and we will be paying around $17,000.”

The group had to suspend its youth league due to the rise in cost. As part of the program, the Westman Cricket Association ran practices for young people interested in learning cricket. They then allowed the U19 youth team to compete in the tournament without any charge.

“They would play for free because we could afford it,” said Patel. “But right now, we cannot do such a program because we don’t have that privilege.

“Without youth cricket you cannot have success. Cricket will die.”

Patel added that the group has reached out to the city about the possibility of reducing the rent. He doesn’t blame the city and hopes the groups can work together to find a solution.

“With the cost of living going up across the globe, it’s a challenge to run the family, run the house and come and enjoy your sport,” said Patel.

Another, much smaller issue, is that field tends to retain water. When it rains, they cancel matches for the next few days because the ground gets so soggy.

GROWING SPORT

Back when Patel started playing in Brandon, the group only had enough players to put together five teams, and they had to modify the rules just to reach that many.

“In actual cricket there are 11 players who play in the game and there are four substitutes,” said Patel. “Back in the day we modified the version of cricket so that each team would only have six or eight players so that we had more teams.”

Compared to those early days, there is now an abundance of cricket players in Brandon. There were 10 teams playing with a hard tennis ball this year and five with a leather ball. All told, that’s 225 active players.

The group is also drawing in teams from the surrounding area.

“This year we had a group from Dauphin,” said Patel. “They actually brought in two teams so that was great to see.”

It’s been nearly 10 years since the Westman Cricket Association started playing games in Brandon. The growth of the sport locally matches an increased interest across the country.

“With the way cricket is growing in the country I really feel there is potential for Brandon youth to go and represent Manitoba for national championships and stuff like that,” said Patel.

That’s one of the reasons that the Westman Cricket Association is so interested in bringing back the youth program. Like any sport, improvement in cricket is all about touches and reps. The more time younger kids have to practise their skills, the more they can improve.

In June of 2025, Cricket Canada announced that the men’s national team qualified to compete in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which was hosted in India and Sri Lanka.

“Qualifying for the T20 World Cup is a testament to the progress we have made as a cricketing nation. It is an exciting moment for Canadian cricket, and we look forward the building on this success by continuing to grow the game across the country and inspiring the next generation of players,” said president of Cricket Canada Amjad Bajwa in a statement released by Cricket Canada at the time.

Patel feels the same way about growing cricket in Brandon.

Every team added to the annual tournament is progress towards growing the game he loves. He hopes to continue doing so with the successful completion of this year’s tournament at Canadian Packer’s sports Complex.

“We will see. Hopefully the city will come up with something that can be affordable. That way we will have more people participating in cricket and we can run the youth program and take Brandon to the national level,” said Patel.

»rmccarthy@brandonsun.com