Cricket match to receive help from town

On Monday, Rev. David Pritchard of St. Davids, asked town councillors for some help with a cricket match scheduled for this Sunday.

He made a virtual delegation to the committee of the whole meeting as a member of the Caribbean Workers Outreach Project, which is organizing its annual cricket match, this year at Memorial Park, between a team of offshore workers from Niagara-on-the-Lake, and a team from Lincoln, which will be held this Sunday, June 12, beginning at 2 p.m.

There are 20 members on each team, he said, and about 200 spectators and volunteers attending the event. 

Pritchard was asking to use the field rent-free, and for a donation from the town of $600 to offset the cost of the event, which included a chicken dinner for players and spectators.

For more than 30 years, he told councillors, a group of dedicated and committed volunteers have reached out to support workers who come from the Caribbean (mainly Jamaica) to help neighbourhood farmers with farm needs. Each year the outreach program organizes four activities, including weekly Sunday Christian worship services in May and June, this year at Cornerstone Church on Hunter Road. Benevolent support is offered to workers who have experienced a death in their immediate families, he said, including help with funeral and transportation arrangements. A dominoes match between workers from NOTL and Vineland is also held each year, as well as the annual cricket match between the NOTL Clippers and the Vineland Lions. 

The cricket match offers a chance for workers from throughout town to gather and cheer their favourite side, says Pritchard. “Many year-round residents also come over to try and figure out how cricket gets played,” he said, and everyone is invited to stay for the presentation of trophies following the match, as well as a free meal of fried chicken, rice and peas, coleslaw, beverage and watermelon.

In past years, in addition to providing food, CWOP has purchased uniforms for both teams and a cricket mat, which is placed on the playing field, providing a uniform surface for play and reducing wear and tear on the grass. CWOP is also challenging Shaw Festival cricketers, or others interested, to a match.

Councillors supported relief of the field rental for Sunday, but said there is no discretionary funding available from the town this year. Lord Mayor Betty Disero said during the meeting  there must be a fair number of people watching, because she was getting messages from them that they wanted to donate to the event. She said she, along with Coun. Erwin Wiens, who also wanted to help, would ensure that the cricket match was supported, and when the budget committee looks at discretionary grants, the CWOP cricket match would be considered.