Cricket growing in popularity on P.E.I., team takes home first Maritime Cup

When Tazul Riad moved to P.E.I. in 2005 from Bangladesh, he had a hard time getting a game of cricket together there were only about 10 frequent players.

Now, those few players have turned into hundreds of passionate cricketers.

"We are 300 members now and we are hoping to grow [to] 500 members next year," says Riad, president of the P.E.I. Cricket Association.

Riad would play cricket at lunch during school as a child, then play all day after school. Hesaid it was his dream to create the same kind of community on P.E.I.

The popularity of the sport is being driven by immigrants to the Island, coming from places where cricketis quite popular such as India and Pakistan. And it's bringing cricketers from all walks of life together.

"I didn't know many people before, and this is like one family," said Priyam Soni, who immigrated to Canada from India.

While many of the people on P.E.I. playing the sport speakdifferent languages and comes from different backgrounds, none of that matters while onthe field or at the pitch.

"I think cricket is a religion that we follow. Here, it's not Hindu, Muslim, Christian. It's only cricket," said Soni.

Soni was part of the P.E.I. team competing in the Maritime Cup for cricket this weekend and took home the title of "Man of the Tournament."

Parth Pateal is the vice-president of association and captain for the P.E.I. team.

"Since 2016 when I came to P.E.I., from that moment tonow I have been just waiting to say the one thing that this is my team," he said. "We made it to the final and we win the cup for P.E.I."

P.E.I. won the Maritime Cup for cricket on Sunday at Tea Hill in Stratford, P.E.I., beating Cricket New Brunswick in the finals by 100 runs.

It was the first time in 20 years the team made the finals, and a first for winning the Maritime Cup, said Riad.

With the sport growing so rapidly, Riad said he would like to see more cricket fields and pitches built in other Island communities Stratford has the only real pitch to play on in the province.

Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown watched most of the games through the weekend. He said there is discussion about finding a location for a cricket pitch in the city, but ideally outside of the downtown core.

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