Toronto Cricket Academy's 2nd Tour to England

Arrangements are now complete for the 2nd cricket tour to `England for the Toronto Cricket Academy. The group of 15 players and six adults, including officials, will arrive in Manchester on August 1, 2005. Brian Hale, President of the TCA, will lead the group. Brian is a former Guyana U23 and Canadian national player. Many youngsters have attended his Academy and some have gone on to represent Canada (Ashish Bagai, the current Canadian wicket keeper who played in the last World Cup in South Africa, and Zubin Surkari who scored 140 against the UAE in the recent Intercontinental Cup).

The TCA were in England for their 1st tour in the "home" of cricket two years ago when they played all but one of their games in Devon with one in Somerset against Taunton CC. They went home with a creditable record - played 8, won 7 - the only loss coming against Ottery St..Mary CC, having beaten the very strong Sidmouth CC and Taunton CC Youth teams.

Amongst their ranks this time will be the outstanding 10-year old Nitish Kumar. Nitish is a highly talented youngster who has been playing in well above his age group for several years. Also with the team will be Arsalan Quadir who represented Canada at the U15 level in the Cayman Islands last year.

Special Achievement Award

Petra Pompey was the recipient of the "Syl Apps Special Achievement Award" recently at the 2005 Ontario Sport Awards. The Government of Ontario hands out this prestigious award annually to an individual in recognition of outstanding volunteer contribution in their field of amateur sport.

Petra began her volunteer involvement in cricket over 25 years ago, first as a player, then scorer and administrator. She has scored for many international games including the Sahara Cup 2001, ICC Trophy, the Intercontinental Cup, and the Red Stripe Bowl in Jamaica. She is currently Secretary of both the T&DCA and the Ontario Cricket Association.