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Posts tagged ‘Brockton Oval’

My Vancouver: summer cricket at Stanley Park

Above/featured: Grouse Mountain looms over a cricket match at Upper Brockton, with the bowler delivering from the mountain end to the pavilion end.

It’s not typical 21st-century sport in North America, but it is Canada’s first summer sport. Many of cricket’s practitioners in Vancouver’s picturesque Stanley Park have roots from India and Pakistan; among them the shouts of “shabash” are heard often during play.

In childhood, I was enamored with baseball. With its similar origins, I discovered cricket with time spent in Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, and South Africa. The natural connection is the former British Empire. I began with T20, the shortest format of the game; with curiosity and time, my hunger encompassed the 50-over one-day format (ODI). It’s my start with the short white-ball format that I’ve developed an appreciation for the long format of the game with red-ball Test cricket.

But is the cricket ground at Vancouver’s Stanley Park “the most beautiful cricket ground in the world”? (With Table Mountain as the backdrop, some might proclaim Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town, South Africa as the most beautiful/scenic.)

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Lower Brockton, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: summer weekend cricket in Vancouver

A beautiful summer weekend in Vancouver also means cricket for hundreds of players in the local area with match play in the British Columbia Mainland Cricket League (BCMCL). A venue with an impressively picturesque mountain (North Shore) backdrop is Brockton Clubhouse and Pavilion in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Next to the Pavilion are two fields: Upper Brockton and Lower Brockton.

In the picture above is Lower Brockton in this southeast view to Coal Harbour, the “sails” of Canada Place at centre, and snow-capped Mount Baker peeking behind the red cranes at left. The picture below shows team “Newton Surrey III” at bat for the following match:

BCMCL 2016 season match number 365: Division 3, between West Vancouver IV (home) and Newton Surrey III (away). Newton Surrey III batted first, scoring 271 runs for a loss of 9 wickets in a maximum of 45 overs (271/9, 45.0 ov). In their innings, West Vancouver IV batted for 191 runs for a loss of all 10 wickets in 39.2 overs (191/10, 39.2 ov). Newton Surrey III successfully defended their run total and won the match by 80 runs.

Lower Brockton, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Newton Surrey III, batting | West Vancouver IV, fielding

In 1867, Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, once declared cricket as the young nation’s first official sport. The Brockton Pavilion provides this short history of cricket in Vancouver: “The Vancouver Cricket Club was officially formed in 1889 and thus officially cricket was begun in this area. In fact, cricket was being played here as soon as the British began to populate British Columbia in the 1850’s. Historical records indicate Brockton Point Cricket Club was one of the seven founding member clubs of the B.C. Mainland Cricket League in 1914.”

I made the photo above on 24 July 2016 with the Canon EOS6D and 70-300 zoom-lens. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-8GP.

BCMCL, cricket, wicket, Brockton Oval, Brockton Pavilion, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: pull shot over midwicket for six

This left-handed batsman has just hit a monstrous pull shot that will go over the pitch at midwicket for six runs. Even in a short exposure, the white cricket ball struck hard with a bat appears as a blur, whizzing away at high speed.

I’m spending a spectacular summer Saturday afternoon at Brockton Oval in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, where two matches of the British Columbia Mainland Cricket League are taking place. I’m enjoying the competitive cricket, but I’ve also had the great pleasure of speaking with various people: a number of players, friends of players, and other curious onlookers. My camera and the long zoom-lens are a great conversation starter, too. Every person with whom I speak is Canadian or American, all who’ve originally come from India or Pakistan. One of the best things to happen is the nod of agreement (approval, perhaps?) when I tell them I’ve become a fan of the game as part of my wish to know and understand people from the “Subcontinent.”

I made the photo above on 26 July 2014 with a Canon EOS6D camera and the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM zoom-lens; the settings are 1/500s exposure, f/22 aperture, ISO 2500, 300mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-5sQ.

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