By RON FANFAIR
Ontario's Minister of Immigration and Citizenship Mike Colle has promised to lobby his colleagues for support to advance cricket in the province and across Canada.
Colle was the keynote speaker at a banquet hosted by the Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) last Friday night to celebrate the country's qualification for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
"I hope that the Ontario government can play a meaningful role and support the game as it makes its way up the ladder," Colle said. "The game definitely needs government support and I see this as an investment in the country's harmony and Canada's reputation as an emerging cricketing nation.
"I firmly believe that if the national program can get the support it deserves, you will do both Ontario and Canada proud. I will bring this message to my colleagues and I will be at your disposal."
Canada advanced to the World Cup for the third time in the tournament's 30-year history after finishing third in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Trophy tournament for Associate countries in Ireland in July. The top five teams, along with the 10 Test-playing nations and Kenya, will contest the next World Cup.
Colle, who was introduced to the sport a few years ago by Canada's Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Alvin Curling, extended an invitation to the Canadian team to visit Queen's Park later this year to be honoured for their accomplishment.
"Our team did remarkably well, and I think it's only fitting that we honour them," declared Colle.
CCA president Ben Sennik, who was in Ireland for the qualifying tournament, said he's proud of the team's achievement.
"It was a memorable moment when we advanced and I am delighted to say that our players did extremely well," he said. "The next steps in preparing and taking part in the World Cup will be challenging, but I believe we can be competitive once we work hard and play with discipline."
Each member of the touring party was presented with a cheque for $2,000.
Trinidad & Tobago teammates Larry Gomes, Gus Logie and Theo Cuffy attended the event in Mississauga. Gomes lives in Scarborough while Logie - who coached Canada in the last World Cup -- and Cuffy are in Toronto as the coaches of the Bermuda and Cayman Islands teams respectively for the ICC Intercontinental Trophy Americas zone qualifier.
Canada will play warm-up matches against South Africa on March 5, 2007 and Ireland three days later at the Brian Lara stadium in Trinidad before proceeding to St. Lucia for their first round World Cup matches against Kenya (March 14), England (March 18) and New Zealand (March 22).
Canada participated in the 1979 and 2003 World Cups in England and Southern Africa respectively.