cricket terminology

Here are some of the most common terms: innings one team’s turn to bat or bowl; innings is spelled with an ‘s’ whether singular or plural overs games are divided into a certain number of overs where the bowler bowls six times to the batter striker the batter facing the bowler fast bowling when bowlers sprint and throw the ball at high speed spin bowling when bowlers throw the ball in a spinning angle howzat! (how is that) cricket appeal the act of a player or players on the fielding team appealing to an umpire for a decision regarding whether a batter is out or not. An umpire may not rule a batter out unless the fielding side asks for a decision. century a score of 100 or more runs by a single batter in a game wicketkeeper the player who stands behind the wicket to catch the ball death rattle the dreaded sound of the ball breaking the wicket when a batter is bowled out test match played by the highest level teams in which competition can last five days

At the time, Steve Anderson was running to be the town’s deputy mayor and the cricket crew got to chatting with him about the possibility of a proper cricket pitch in town. When elected in 2018, Steve proposed the idea to town council, and it granted Ahsen and Creg a temporary home –one of the baseball diamonds in KTH Park on the south end of town.

Securing the diamond was a great start, but it takes some preparation to get the field ready. Cricket is played on a large oval field with a 22-yard-long flat strip of ground in the centre known as the pitch. The pitch has to be hard, so before each game the ground needs to be wetted, stamped and rolled.

“It takes us about an hour just to get the pitch ready,” laughs Creg. “But we aren’t complaining.”

Whatever they are lacking in a facility, Ahsen says, they are determined to make up for with good old-fashioned hard work and discipline.

Each game day, a different team comes out to help set up.

After the ground is readied, they set up the wickets at each end of the pitch: three vertical “stumps” (sticks) with two wooden “bails” (small sticks) lying horizontally on top.

In the style of the game played in Shelburne, there are two innings and a game can run anywhere from two to five hours. Each “innings” (the word is spelled with an ‘s’ whether singular or plural) sees one team at bat and one “bowling” (pitching), with the goal being to get as many runs as possible. That sounds simple, but to the uninitiated the game can often appear as though it’s being played from multiple angles. (See sidebar, page 39.)

The club held its first few local matches in the summer of 2019, even though they didn’t quite have enough players on either side. But as word got out their numbers grew to 17 within a year, giving them more than enough for a full team of 11, which they dubbed the Shelburne Gladiators. In addition to local games, the Gladiators started playing exhibition matches against the Mississauga Ramblers in 2020, sometimes at KTH Park and sometimes at the Ramblers’ home field. “When we went to play in Mississauga, we walked out into this pristine field and were just in awe,” muses Creg. “That’s what we aim to have in Shelburne one day.”

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, they still managed to organize socially distanced games, giving people a much-needed outlet for socializing and physical exercise. “Then, when things got more back to normal in 2021, it just exploded and we knew it was time to make it official,” explains Ahsen.

They registered the Shelburne Cricket Club as a nonprofit organization with Ahsen as president and Creg as vice-president. (All fees and donations received go back to the club for equipment and uniforms or for community outreach events.) They also now had enough players to add a second team, the Shelburne Knights. The SCC was officially up and running.

Unbeknownst to Ahsen and Creg, however, this wasn’t the first Shelburne Cricket Club. Not long after they started the club, they were contacted by the Elsdon family. Peter and Rosemarie Elsdon were a British couple who arrived in the area in 1965. Peter brought with him a love of England’s national sport and was one of the founders of the Orangeville Cricket Club in 1974 with Rosemarie chipping in as scorekeeper.

Peter had seen in the news that a “new” cricket club had been formed in Shelburne. However, he had a book by Shelburne historian John Rose that showed the original Shelburne Cricket Club was inaugurated way back in 1893, but had sadly faded away. Peter passed away in May 2021, and before Rosemarie died in October that same year she offered Peter’s collection of

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VOTED #1 WINDOW & DOOR COMPANY IN DUFFERIN COUNTY cricket memorabilia – including old posters, game scorecards, mascots and medals – to Ahsen and Creg, who say they were humbled to receive them. They in turn donated many of the artifacts to the Museum of Dufferin.

Now, 130 years after its first iteration, Creg and Ahsen are confident the club will survive and thrive. In 2022 the men’s league expanded from two to four teams with the addition of the Samurai and Warriors – and the Warriors won the league championship in 2022. (This year Ahsen plays for the Warriors and Creg plays for the Gladiators.) The club also started two women’s teams, the Angels and the Valkyrie in 2022 – and the club has launched a soccer league to boot. For its 2023 season the roster is 160 men and women.

“Being there from day one and seeing that growth has been very satisfying,” says Creg. “I want to see the club continue to grow. We’ve met a lot of people along the way, and built up a community where we can have fun and enjoy playing because cricket is a game that’s for everybody.”

The season kicks off every year with an opening ceremony in May, followed by weekly practices held on Wednesdays and matches every weekend until the season closes in October.

This year the club’s social-mediafriendly theme is all about taking cricket to the “#NextLevel” with three main areas of focus: mental health, women’s inclusion, and multiculturalism and diversity. Anyone attending a game will see the teams do indeed represent a United Nations of players, many of whom hail from cricket-loving nations such as Sri Lanka, South Africa, India, Pakistan and the West Indies, all of which were first introduced to “the gentleman’s game” while under British colonial rule and went on to dominate cricket on the world stage.

“In our club we have at least 10 different nationalities playing under the flag of Canada,” says Ahsen. “Everyone is welcome here. We sometimes get people coming out who are from countries where cricket isn’t popular, but that is not a problem. Even if you have never played before, we will support you, coach you, and make sure you learn how to play and have a great time.”

And having a great time is part of the mental health push. Creg touched on how one of the members of their management team, Zaid Baig, told them he had been going through some tough times and being part of the club gave him a feeling of being accepted and valued (his poignant story was related on a CBC segment, available online). There are also several senior citizens who wanted to play, but were no longer able to. They were invited to participate as umpires, commentators, scorers and mentors.

And the SCC is working hard to ensure it is welcoming to women too. “Cricket is not just an old boy’s club; we know that lots of women are interested in playing instead of just watching from the sidelines,” says Ahsen, whose wife, Maira Quraishi, plays. In 2022 the club held its first women’s exhibition game, sponsored by the Dufferin Muslim Centre and Trillium Ford. “It got competitive real fast!” Creg quips, adding that his wife, Simone McCalla-Parker, participates too.

Alethia O’Hara-Stephenson, founder of the Dufferin County Canadian Black Association (also the cricket club’s very first sponsor), joined in 2022 and now, as the captain of the Valkyrie, she says she’s thrilled to see her peers challenge themselves by learning a new sport usually dominated by men.

“There aren’t many women’s cricket teams, so this is a valuable opportunity to develop leadership skills and self-confidence. We even have some new junior players, like Olivia and Abby, both of whom are in elementary school and will be playing with us for the first time. I’m proud to be part of the game’s growth in Shelburne.” To help attract younger players, one of the SCC’s rules is every men’s team must have two juniors under the age of 16, a requirement they hope to extend to the women’s league as well. The club’s fundraising activities include Biryani & BBQ days, and their most popular event, a classic British-style afternoon tea, mimics the intermission festivities at high- level “test” matches. “At every test match there is a 20-minute tea break for players between innings. It has a nice touch of class and we wanted to bring that tradition here to attract families to come, watch a game and enjoy,” says Ahsen. Everyone gathers under white tents – dressed up, including fascinator hats and fedoras – for afternoon tea with biscuits, cookies and sandwiches. (Watch for 2023 dates at shelburne cricketclub.com)

As the house league season winds down, an SCC selection committee chooses 25 of their best players for a town team, the Shelburne Stars, who compete against other nearby towns and cities, including Orillia, Mississauga, Alliston, Hamilton and Brampton. The next step in the development of the SCC is this year’s inaugural Dufferin County Cup Premium T20 Cricket Tournament. Teams will be invited to play against the Shelburne Stars in September and October. “But this has opened up a

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Cricket For Newbies

Feeling stumped about the rules of cricket? Here’s a quick intro to the basics of play.

A cricket match involves two teams of 11 players each competing on an oval field with a rectangular pitch in the middle. A match has two innings where one team bats while the other bowls and fields. After the first innings they switch roles.

The goal of every game is to get as many runs as possible.

The SCC men’s league is playing T25 (as opposed to previous years’ T20 style), which means each innings has 25 overs in which a bowler throws the ball six times, for 150 balls bowled per innings. When one over is complete, another bowler comes in. The women’s league plays T15 (90 balls per innings).

Two batters stand at either end of the pitch, one in front of each wicket. The bowler faces one batter (the striker) at one wicket in front of the wicketkeeper. A second batter (a nonstriker) is at the other end.

The bowler throws the ball to try and knock down the opposing team’s wicket. If the ball hits the wicket, the batter is out – and a replacement batter comes out. (There are many other ways the batter can be called out while at bat, too.)

If the batter hits the ball, the two batters run back and forth between the wickets to get in as many runs as they can while the fielders try to catch the ball. One run is counted when the two teammates successfully make it to their opposite wicket.

If a fielder catches the ball before it hits the ground, the batter is out. Otherwise the fielder can throw to the wicketkeeper in the hope of beating the batters to inside the relevant crease markings at the wicket (much like baseball). Or they can throw to another fielder who is close to the other wicket to do the same (a bit risky as fielders aren’t equipped with the same catching glove the wicketkeeper has). An even riskier move? Throwing the ball directly at the wicket to topple it and put the batter out.

Whichever batter (original striker, replacement or original nonstriker) ends up at the batting wicket becomes the striker.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37 whole Pandora’s box,” laughs Ahsen, “because in order to host more of these matches, ultimately we will need a proper cricket field.” The SCC is now working with the Town of Shelburne to create an official cricket field, which the club hopes will be ready for the 2024 season.

Ahsen notes that across Ontario similar initiatives have been built or are in the works. Nearby King City is home to the Maple Leaf Cricket Club, which has one of only two cricket grounds in Canada approved to host One Day International matches, the official game format used for the Cricket World Cup. Last year the city of London opened its first full-size regulation cricket grounds, and Hamilton is building a second cricket field. And recently Brampton announced it is exploring proposals to build a multimillion-dollar state-ofthe-art cricket stadium.

“We are a small town, but if we can host cricket matches in Shelburne and bring players and spectators, it gives the town and Dufferin County the opportunity to boost its tourism, attract visitors, and bring much-needed revenue into the local economy,” says Ahsen.

The future certainly looks bright for the SCC, with a permanent field, more teams, competitions, fun events, and even a fall black-tie award ceremony at Hockley Valley Resort – all while Ahsen, Creg, and other members of the management team juggle family lives and busy day jobs. Ahsen is a senior manager in global IT at PepsiCo, and Creg has worked at UPS’ automotive parts department for 17 years.

“I only get about three hours of sleep at night,” Ahsen admits.

“But once everything is flying by itself, I’ll have time to rest. Now is the time to work hard. We are very proud to carry on the legacy that was started back in 1893. But this time, the Shelburne Cricket Club will not fade away. We are here to stay.”

INSPIRED BY THE NATURAL RHYTHMS OF LIFE, A HOST OF GARDENERS HAS CREATED A REFUGE OF CALM AND BEAUTY FOR THE DYING AND THE GRIEVING – AND THOSE WHO CARE FOR THEM – AT BETHELL HOSPICE

BY DON SCALLEN • PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUSANNE McROBERTS

Allister Taylor knows loss. Over a brief span he dealt with the deaths of a younger brother, older sister, a cousin and his beloved wife, Rita. Coping with a deep well of grief, he turned to the bereavement services at Bethell Hospice in Inglewood for support. There he discovered the gardens that became his destination of tranquil refuge.

Allister visits the Bethell Hospice gardens throughout the year where he relaxes on a bench amid floral beauty and birdsong. He finds the gardens loveliest in the spring when the daffodils bloom and quotes Wordsworth: “A host of golden daffodils / Beside the lake, beneath the trees / Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

Allister has great affection for the hospice gardens and, in fact, with the whole palliative care concept the Bethell Hospice so aptly embodies. He donates to the hospice and has purchased two trees for the gardens, one in memory of his late wife, the other simply to support the gardens’ environmental vision.

The hospice gardens first glinted in the imaginations of a committee of staff members and volunteers back in 2010. Today a team of dedicated volunteers continues to work the soil at the gardens. Two of the principal volunteers are firmly planted in the horticultural world. Sheilagh Crandall, along with her sisters and daughter, Sarah, operates Mount Wolfe Farm in Caledon, while Susanne McRoberts nurtures magic in her Belfountain garden, featured in the spring 2022 issue of this magazine.

That original committee balked at an initial plan to landscape the space in a formal style populated by the exotic perennials that typify most Ontario gardens. Instead, they favoured a more naturalistic style leaning to native plant species that would support birds, bees and butterflies. To this end the first iteration of the gardens was established.

Gardening, however, is a capricious pursuit. Longtime CBC gardening guru Ed Lawrence, now retired, captured the yin and yang of gardening perfectly with the title of his bestselling book, Gardening: Grief and Glory open out to expansive gardens that surround three sides of the building. In this garden at the back, the blue spikes of Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’ and ‘May Night’ mingle with the ball-shaped blooms of various alliums.

BOTTOM The cheerful egg-shaped blooms of Allium sphaercephalon; a bee gathers pollen from Silphium perfoiatum, know commonly as cup plant; hundreds of daffodils brighten the garden in early spring.

TOP The pretty blue heads of Allium caeruleum bob near the gazebo.

LEFT In July, nodding onions (Allium cernuum) arch gracefully in front of the tall white spikes of Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum).

BOTTOM In late summer, the courtyard pergola in the centre of the back border is surrounded by bright yellow blooms, including the reaching tangle of Prairie Dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum).

By 2018, Sheilagh, Susanne and the landscaping team were experiencing a considerable dose of gardening grief. Pernicious invasives were taking over – thistle, black medic, bird’s foot trefoil – pushing out the desired plants. So they asked Peter Fuller, a native plant expert and, at the time, owner of Fuller Native and Rare Plants in Belleville, to weigh in. His advice was jaw-dropping: Start over!

It took a while for Susanne and the others to digest this stark directive, but they reluctantly agreed it had merit. To realize the initial vision of sustainable, naturalistic gardens, they would need to start from scratch. Well almost. Desirable perennials would be set aside and replanted. Everything else went to the compost pile.

A daunting task

But now faced with an intimidating expanse of bare, compacted soil laced with an amalgam of stones and construction debris, the daunting task of a garden rebuild loomed. And if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a landscape committee, a dedicated cadre of volunteers, a supportive administration and generous donations to make spectacular four-season gardens. Importantly, all levels of the Bethell Hospice community, including then board chair Lynn Dobson, vice-chair John Palmer, and previous interim executive director Debbie Davis, contributed time and effort to the project. Elizabeth Birnie, daughter of Lorna Bethell, the founding visionary of the hospice, also played a key role. Lots of compost and good earth were called for. Enter Paul de Wet whose mother passed away at Bethell Hospice in 2016. Paul and Above and Beyond Landscaping, where he is director, donated soil, plants and, critically, labour. Paul’s generous support for the hospice gardens is a very visible example of volunteers giving back to the hospice where loved ones have spent their final days.

Anita Schenk is another volunteer linked by grief and gratitude to Bethell Hospice. Her husband passed away at Bethell in his 50s, and Anita has since become a vital hospice fundraiser and champion of the gardens. She understands plants, having grown up in a family that operated a nursery in Belfountain. As one of her fundraising initiatives, she recently organized a curling bonspiel, with half the proceeds going to the hospice.

Anita tells a poignant story that captures one of the reasons she’s such a passionate garden booster. “While I was weeding one summer, I noticed a very upset little girl pacing the garden with a gentleman who was likely her dad. The pair would stop occasionally, and the father would point out a flower in the garden. Eventually their pacing became slower and more mindful. I was reminded of the peace and tranquility I experienced during beautiful mornings in my husband Dave’s room, looking out the expansive picture windows.”

Anita is joined by many other people who value the gardens and keep them thriving. There is Gerry Crake, the hospice’s maintenance co-ordinator –a no-nonsense jack-of-all-trades with an uncanny resemblance to Woody Harrelson. “He plants trees, shrubs, cuts back the perennial stems in early spring and manages irrigation during drought,” says Susanne. “He built our distinctive pergola where visitors and volunteers find shade. He’s the guy that makes everything work. He really cares.”

And then there is the indefatigable Neil Morris, a weekly volunteer at Bethell Hospice since its inception. To Susanne and Sheilagh, Neil is indispensable. Neil does a lot of the grunt work. “I’m stubborn enough to shovel through the hardpack,” he says. Neil is also the gardens’ tree expert. Nicola Ross, an In The Hills writer and author of the bestselling Loops and Lattes series of hiking books, regularly taps into Neil’s expertise whenever she comes across a puzzling woody specimen in the field.

Mix of natives

By 2019 the vision for the gardens, as reimagined by Sheilagh, Susanne and Luyse Groulx, another long-term member of the Bethell landscape committee, had been largely achieved – a mix of natives and well-behaved complementary non-natives that offered a continuum of bloom and, as important, are extremely attractive

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Everything was humming along swimmingly in 2019 and into 2020. And then came Covid. Many of the older volunteers found themselves on the outside looking in, classed as vulnerable and told, for their own good, to stay away. A whirlwind volunteer recruitment effort was called for and hospice volunteer co-ordinator Kat Powell issued a plea for help.

“Women Who Weed”

Twenty-nine younger volunteers stepped into the breach and a schedule was prepared to ensure social distancing in the gardens. The new volunteers included several members of the Credit Forks Garden Club, under the banner “Women Who Weed,” along with a team of stalwart gardeners from Inglewood led by Marty Harrison. Training provided by Susanne, Sheilagh, and Anita had to happen remotely, and though often inconvenient, it worked. The new, improved naturalistic gardens were in capable hands. So many people doing so much good.

That goodness is embedded in the story of John Doughty who was a resident of Bethell Hospice. John was one of the founders of the Humber Valley Heritage Trail Association and a man who lived to canoe. In fact, he is part of Bethell lore as the only resident to be collected by a family member during his hospice stay for a canoeing outing. His son Angus and daughterin-law Sian spirited him out one day.

According to his wife Susan, the gardens gave John the opportunity to escape his room. They didn’t substitute for the rock, forest and lakes of his beloved Algonquin, but they offered access to a microcosm of the wild just outside his door. Susan would wheel him about the gardens, and they’d settle on a garden bench and bask in the sun. Susan knew that while John yearned to be over the hills and far away, the gardens cushioned the impossibility of that hope.

After being sent home following his first stint in Bethell Hospice because he refused to die, John was readmitted months later and passed away in August 2019. He was escorted out the front door, draped, as is Bethell tradition, in a quilt from his room. By his side rested a canoe paddle.

Susan was the gardener in their 58 years of marriage and admits that the trees and flowers of the Bethell gardens were likely a greater comfort to her than to John. That admission affirms the value of the gardens to a broad constituency – not only to the residents but also to family members, volunteers and staff. The benefits to staff were articulated by Peggy Chi, a landscape architect with a PhD from the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She came to the hospice in 2019 to speak about the positive effects nearby nature confers on healthcare providers: reduced stress, lower blood pressure, improved alertness and increased job satisfaction.

Peggy Chi’s presentation was the impetus for establishing “The Secret Garden” at Bethell Hospice, a beautiful sitting area embraced by native trees and shrubs where staff can decompress

TOP Come fall, the view from the library window reveals waves of golden grasses rippling around the gazebo.

CENTRE Brilliant red nannyberries (Viburnum lentago) are tempting treats for birds. Year-round, the Secret Garden provides a quiet respite for staff and volunteers.

BOTTOM In winter, the seed heads of allium and faded blooms of asters sparkle with a frosting of snow.

The gardens are allowed to progress naturally through the passage of the seasons, displaying the particular beauty of each phase… from spring freshness to summer exuberance, to autumn glow, to winter quiet. Promise of renewal and legacy is held in the seeds that persist even in the resting winter garden.”

Taking solace

I love her phrase “displaying the particular beauty of each phase.” There is beauty in the spring, summer, autumn and winters of our own lives. Though beset with challenges, these stages also offer joy and fulfillment, especially if nurtured by friendship, loving families and supportive communities.

In the winter of our lives, we reflect on our successes and failures, and take solace in the continuity of existence, knowing that when we’re gone, our legacy will continue through the relationships we’ve built with the living. Even if we don’t leave behind children and grandchildren, we can take heart that through our actions and deeds we’ve effected positive change in the world.