Regina cricketers stumped on indoor options for winter

Cricket players in Regina are feeling trapped in a sticky wicket, having no access to indoor facilities to play their game during the long winter months.

"If you phone the city right now, and try to book cricket, they'll basically say no to you," said Salman Khan, one of the directors for the Saskatchewan Cricket Association.

"Call the fieldhouseand say you want to play cricket. They'll just say no, which is sad, because we were paying big money."

He sayscricketers were not able touse the facility throughout 2017, after a bulb was broken at the Regina Fieldhouse during indoor playin the previous season.

Khan said cricketerswere happy to pay to replace the bulb, but they were asked to modify their sport to play inside, including taping the bottom of their bats, using tennis balls instead of cricket ballsand putting up mats that Khan described as a hazard for people running back and forth.

The modifications were "literally taking our game and completely ruining it," said Khan, comparing it to asking people to play soccer with a basketball.

'Extremely frustrating'

In Saskatoon, cricketers can rent the fieldhouse's batting cage to hold practices. Khan feels the Regina Fieldhouse could introduce amodification, such asa safety net, that would protect the facility from damage. However, he says the fieldhouse staff has not seemed receptive to that possibility, and his attempts to talk to the city have also not resulted in changes, which he describes as "extremely frustrating."

In December, Khan heard the federal government and the city would be spending a joint $1.67 million to upgrade arenas, leisure centres and spray pads in Regina, as part of a Canada 150 announcement.

"This is what concerns me.You have more than $1.5 million to spend on facilities;you couldn't fit $3,000 to put the net in?" he said, describing it as "pure discrimination" against the sport. "You just completely ignore a game that's played by more than 500 people."

Recreation plan

In an emailed response, Jeff May, the city's manager for sport and recreation, said there are "many competing priorities" when it comes to deciding how to invest in facilities.

"An indoor facility capable of hosting the sport of cricket is one such example," he said.

The city is coming up with a recreation master planto help make decisions on investing in programs and facilities. May said the plan will be completed and approved by city council in 2018.