A Regina-based group known as the Cavaliers Sports and Social Club came to the Gallagher Centre Flexihall to give a handful of locals, including a couple of sports reporters a crash course in the sport of cricket.
"It's not really a spectator sport," admits Jaco van Heerdon of the Regina Cavaliers. "It's a very interesting sport."
The City of Yorkton's community development, parks and recreation department arranged for the Cavaliers to try and promote cricket for several hours in Yorkton this past Saturday afternoon.
The group said it was a pretty good showcase for a handful of youngsters that came out.
"The kids here are really enjoying it," observed Khurum Hussain, president of the Regina Cavaliers.
"There are three or four kids (here) that could play in our league."
Hussain noted that anyone in Yorkton interested in attending a fundraiser banquet for cricket in Regina is invited to the Cavaliers Sports and Social Club's annual fundraiser dinner and dance July 1.
It will be held at Jandon's Restaurant.
India, who is currently the biggest country in the world for organized cricket, has dominated on the world stage for years, he said.
Field hockey ranks up near the top of favoured sports in India, however, Cricket is by far the most popular sport;[240] the India cricket team won the 1983 and the 2011 World Cups.
In Canada, "it's big in Ontario," he added, as well as "communities with a lot of east Indian people."
The sport which has never gotten a lot of attention throughout Canada, other then the major centres (Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto), he noted.
The game is played between two teams with 11 players on each.
Cricket is the older game and baseball is a modernized version of cricket, says van Heerdon.
Certain players will bat and certain players will pitch (bowl), he added.
"Cricket is a lot older then baseball. Baseball evolved from cricket," he said.
To be good at cricket, players must have an ability to concentrate on the ball, which is about the same size as a hardball, only slightly softer.
"It's more of a technical sport," van Heerdon notes of the differences between baseball and cricket.
"It's a game of concentration."
Players in the outfield in a cricket match can find themselves standing still for hours before the ball forces them to move, he notes.
Also, there are two batsmen in cricket on the field at the same time. Baseball, of course, features one batter and one pitcher.
According to van Heerdon, good baseball skills can probably be easily transferred to cricket.
"You can drive a batsman crazy by good bowling (pitching)."
van Heerdon also said there are three types of bowlers that will make for a good cricket team: fast bowlers, medium bowlers and spinners. Spinners, he said, are like good change-up pitchers in baseball and can help bring down even the best hitters.
Also making cricket different are the hours (and sometimes the number of days) it can take to complete a cricket match. van Heerdon noted that concentration is essential when playing cricket because of the lengths of the game, although he adds, "they've shortened the game", likely to get "more exposure to the sport".
van Heerdon also added that in some parts of the world, especially India, Pakistan and New Zealand, alcohol is a huge part of the sport. In some stadiums that can hold as many as 80,000 spectators, drinking is vital for fans.
He said sometimes a match can last for five days.
Hussain and van Heerdon are actively promoting the Cavaliers online on Facebook.
