These days, cricket is not exactly a popular game in Canada. In fact, I doubt anyone reading this could name one cricket team in Canada. Canada has actually had a national cricket team for decades now but we don’t often do well. We have appeared in only four Cricket World Cups, in 1979, 2003, 2007 and 2011, but never made it out of the first round each time.
That being said, many enjoy cricket and it is a fascinating sport.
So, why am I talking about cricket?
Well, back in 1908, cricket was more popular and Lloydminster had one of the best teams in not only Alberta, but Canada. This was because Lloydminster was a very English town, and many of its residents had only come from England a few years earlier, where cricket was much more popular.
On Sept. 24, 1908, Lloydminster took on a cricket team in Vermilion.
The team arrived and by all accounts, it was a fun event for everyone in Vermilion to watch, even if they didn’t quite understand how the game was played.
Vermilion was the first to bat, and J. Bishop was described as having a fine innings for 20. You will have to forgive me, as I don’t know what any of these things mean.
The visitors had Gronow and Rawie as the top scorers with 11 each, and the side was dismissed for 31.
W. Arden and P. Willis shared bowling honours with four wickets for 18 runs each.
In the second innings, Vermilion declared their innings closed after making 100 runs for eight wickets, of which a player named Cooper made 28, while the players Ardern and Morgan made 18.
In the end, the English team was beaten by 95 runs, and Arden took six wickets for 12 runs and Parry had four wickets for 22 runs.
So, I have no idea what any of that means, but what I do understand is that Vermilion beat the much larger, and more English, Lloydminster in the game.
As the Edmonton Journal stated, Vermilion “Rolled up big score against the bit of Old England on the Plains.”