Thunder Bay Warriors Start With Winning Ways

THUNDER BAY – Sports – Last year a group of local students started the Thunder Bay Cricket Club with support from the city of Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, a number of other organizations, and our community members.

The City of Thunder Bay laid a turf for regular practice in the River Terrace Park, where a growing number of community members and students practiced every Friday. The game of Cricket continued to gain popularity in Northern Ontario, and cricket teams were formed in the cities of Thunder Bay, North Bay, Toronto-Markham and Sault Ste. Marie.

The North Bay and District Multicultural Centre organized the first “Northern Ontario Cricket Tournament” on Aug 3 and Aug 4, 2013 in North Bay, where all four teams from Northern Ontario took part. Thunder Bay Warriors showed immense dedication to the sport by driving 16 hours to part take in the tournament.

Captain Ankur Shahi led the Thunder Bay Warriors in three league matches, winning all three by a large margin.

“We’ve all played back home,” said the 16-year-old Shahi, who was born in India but now makes Thunder Bay his home. “As a team, this is our first exposure to cricket in Canada”.

The team played the final match against the North Bay Cricket Team, feeling satisfied for restricting them 61 runs, as a result of great catching by Parminder Singh. Initially feeling confident about the chase, Thunder Bay Warriors found themselves in deep trouble chasing a target of 62 runs.

Requiring 32 runs in 30 balls, Ankur Shahi and Madhusudan Sharma got together to bring the team home.

All of the teams were extremely grateful to the City of North Bay for taking the initiative of starting such a tournament, bringing cricket to Northern Ontario. Continuing the initiative, Sault Ste. Marie will be hosting the tournament in 2014.

The team wishes to thank the following sponsors for all of their generous support: Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, India Canada Association, Vedic Cultural Centre Thunder Bay, Mr. Pritam Lamba, Lakehead University Cricket Club, Mac’s Store, City of North Bay, and Canadore College North Bay.

Report courtesy of the Thunder Bay Warriors!