For $8 you get pizza, a drink and a cricket match in what might be Ontario’s most affordable league | CBC News

Ahmed Jamani, 35, founded the Hamilton Cricket Association (HCA) in in 2022 with one thing in mind — making the game he loves more affordable to play. 

“For a season, which lasts about like 5 months, they charge almost $350 to $450 a month for people to play,” Jamani said, adding that players who have careers and families often don’t have the funds to play in a cricket league. 

“Nobody has that much money to spare, especially when you are in your adult life.”

But in Jamani’s league, it’s only eight dollars for a match, which he said includes a slice of pizza and a drink after. 

Jamani said he runs the league with small fees, his own funds and through sponsorships with local restaurants, like Turtle Jacks. 

“I do need more support always, but still so far so good,” he said. 

The HCA also runs squash games and little league soccer, along with cricket, he said. 

Cricket brings community together 

On Sunday, Jamani hosted a seven-match Summer Championship tournament, which he said was streamed online by 520 viewers. 

“We all have an in-depth love with cricket,” said Jamani, who grew up in Karachi, Pakistan.

He said, for a lot of the players in the HCA, the love of the game comes from “growing up in the cricket environment” in South and Southeast Asia. 

Cricket has experienced a boom in the past few years, with other local clubs like the 175-year-old Hamilton Cricket Club doubling in size since 2019. 

Jamani’s association has four teams: the Kings, the Legends, the Hawks and the Royals. Players come from all across the Greater Toronto Area, he said. 

A new team called the Mavericks played in Sunday’s championship. 

Maverick Mohammed Khan Mohammed, 32, said he’s “really thankful” that Jamani started HCA, because it has been an opportunity to experience a bit of “the culture from back home.” 

Mohammed is an all-rounder, skilled with the bat and as a bowler.

Mohammed said he moved to Ottawa, Ont. from Hyderabad, India in 2014, then moved to Hamilton in 2018 for work. 

“I’m really happy that here in Canada and Hamilton, there’s a lot of cricket playing around. Sometimes when we come here [to Canada] it’s very hard to find a spot to play,” he said. 

The next generation of players 

Mohammed said he’s been teaching his children, a five-year-old and a three-year-old, cricket at home. He said his children were watching him play in Sunday’s tournament via the livestream. 

Jamani said the HCA offers free cricket lessons for kids between age five and 14. 

“The free cricket for kids is for future generations to come,” he said. “They get a chance to play. They get to be involved in a great sport.”