Mayor's Trophy 2009
 

The Fifth Annual CIMA Mayor’s Trophy

The fifth annual CIMA Mayor’s Trophy was originally scheduled to be held on June 27th at the Sunnybrook Park in Toronto. CIMA launched a six week long campaign on GO Transit, TTC, Television and newspapers promoting the event as a fundraiser for the UK cricket scholarships for Toronto Mayor’s youth cricket team. Soon as the media campaign ended CIMA Canada faced a major set back as Toronto’s civic workers announced a strike just days before the event. The strike paralyzed the operations at all City of Toronto parks and CIMA issued a media release canceling the event. The strike dragged on for close to two months ruling out any possibility rescheduling the event in the summer.
However, driven by the energy and enthusiasm of the participating teams and sponsors alike CIMA rescheduled 2009 Mayor’s Trophy for Saturday the 3rd October. The last week of September was a complete wash out as Toronto experienced both rain and below seasonal temperature. CIMA Canada advised all teams to be ready to play cricket on wet grounds and cold temperatures. Surprisingly, the event started on October 3rd, with no rain disruptions during the opening ceremony and temperatures touching double digits. All 22 teams showed up at the grounds on time. The Mayor, City Councilors, Corporate executives and the usual media cricket team were there to celebrate cricket with CIMA Canada under very unusual circumstances – playing cricket in Toronto in the first week of October.

A steel band joined as the event started with speeches and recognitions. Mayor Miller pointed out a unique Canadian flavour of a Caribbean steel band with a couple of them wearing toques. Toronto steel band led the Mayor’s and CEO’s teams onto the field for the opening game – Mayor’s X1 Vs. CEOs XI. The mayor’s s side scored 38 runs in 5 overs. The UK Consul General batted during a heavy shower, and Philip Crawley, publisher of the Globe and Mail, hit the winning run for the CEOs team. A fitting end as he was the captain. Over 300 people attended the event despite the weather challenges. The event continued with no major disruption until the last over of the championship finals between Police team and the Royal Bank when lightening, thunder and hail forced the fifth annual Mayor’s Trophy being shared by RBC and Police.

View the opening ceremony

Canada Cricket Article


Some memorable moments