Tucked behind a hockey rink, the Timmins Tigers cricket club has a new place to practice.
The room that had been a weight room in the Archie Dillon Sportsplex, now hosts a cricket batting cage that lets the team practice during the winter months.
“We didn’t want to hibernate over the winter,” said Deepak Datta, who joined the club when he moved to Timmins in 2019.
The team was founded in 2016, and has been competing in tournaments in Sudbury against teams from Cochrane, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay, with the Northern Ontario Cricket League and their next season will start in May.
The opening event for the batting cage was attended by Mayor Michelle Boileau, the team and their supporters.
It gave the players a chance to show the mayor how the game of cricket works, and how widespread the love of it is.
One of the team’s managers, Mrunal Limbachia, says they’re very excited to see the Tigers have a place in the community growing.
“We’re very grateful for all the support,” he said.
“The intention here is to help all our community members,” said Datta. “Not everyone has money and we wanted everyone to be able to come and try their swing.”
Datta said the facility can be multipurpose, and he’s had discussions with baseball coaches about young players practicing there as well.
“Everyone can use it. They don’t have to go out when it’s -40, they can do it here!”
Moving forward, the team hopes to be able to host youth programs and other chances for those who may not be as familiar with the sport to learn about it and try it out.
“Timmins is only going to get better and better as we bring in more people and more perspectives, because we never would have seen this space before,” said Mayor Boileau. “Sometimes it just takes someone from somewhere else to see what these spaces could be."
With a large number of international students coming to Timmins from cricket playing countries, the team also acts as a draw to bring people to the city.
“I didn’t look for a house first, I wanted to know if there was a cricket team,” said Datta with a smile. “And these kinds of activities connect people.”
The Timmins Tigers schedule will be listed on the team’s Facebook page, and anyone who wants to get involved with the team can reach out to Deepak Datta by email at [email protected].
