4 Sri Lankan-Canadians will represent the Canada Over 60s National Cricket team at the inaugural Over 60s Cricket World Cup which is to take place in Sunshine Coast, Australia, from the 2nd to the 15th of September 2022. The 4 cricketers are Rohan Jayasekara, Philip Nawaratne, A. D. Jayawardena and Mohamed Rameez.
ThePapare.com caught up with Mohamed Rameez from the Canadian team for a brief interview.
Can you tell us a bit about the over 60s Cricket World Cup?
This is the inaugural Over 60s Cricket World cup, so our team is excited to be part of this historical event. We are keen on putting up strong performances against the world’s best Cricket teams in our quest towards becoming World champions.
Some of the players taking part in this World Cup were big names in the 1970s – 1990s era, which is considered by many as the Golden Age of Cricket. Some notable names include Peter Kirsten and Omar Henry.
The event will be hosted by The Queensland Veterans Cricket (QVC), and will have 12 teams.
– Australia
– New Zealand
– India
– Pakistan
– Sri Lanka
– South Africa
– Zimbabwe
– Canada
– USA
– Wales
– Rest of the world
England will not take part in the Over 60s World Cup as the event clashes with County Cricket.
Tell us a bit about your Cricketing career and your journey towards being selected for the Canadian Over 60s National Cricket team.
I represented the Jaffna Central College 1st XI Cricket team for 4 years at the Battle of the North (2nd oldest school Cricketing encounter in Sri Lanka played between Jaffna Central College and St. John’s College, Jaffna) and inter-school tournaments. I had the privilege of serving as the Vice-Captain of the College team in 1977. I also represented the Jaffna District XI at the Inter-Provincial Tournament as a school boy.
I moved to Colombo in 1977 and played for Saracens Cricket Club for a few years before moving to Tamil Union, and then back to Saracens. After I stopped playing Club Cricket, I continued to play Mercantile Cricket for American Lloyds, Commercial Bank and Bank of America.
I migrated to Canada in 1987 and played Club Cricket in Toronto League (TND League), which is the largest Cricket league in Canada. I believe I got selected for the national team following my performance at the Over 50s league here.
I would like to thank K. M. Shanthi Kumar, Sivabalasingham, Rajiv Benedict and many others who have supported me throughout my Cricketing career.
What is the Cricket scene like in Canada?
Cricket as a sport is booming in Canada. There are several big Cricket leagues here and they’re quite competitive. The largest league is the Toronto League (TND). The Markham and Scarborough Cricket Leagues are quite big too.
The Canadian team took part in the World Cup a few years ago, and the standards were very high. However, our competitiveness in international Cricket had declined for a few years. Thankfully, all signs are pointing towards the sport picking up momentum again.
You can see a lot of students from the Indian sub-continent contributing towards this growth. Cricket is being played in a lot of places in Canada now. Cricket is especially popular in the Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces.
What is the contribution of Sri Lankans to Canadian Cricket?
There are quite a few Sri Lankans who have played Cricket for Canada at various levels. The list includes Rohan Jayasekara, Shantha Jayasekara, Easan Sinnathamby, Ruvindu Gunasekara, Manoj David, Arvind Kandappah, Trevin Bastiampillai, Ravishankar Puvendran, Brian Rajadurai, Sanjayan Thuraisingam, Dhanuka Pathirana, Shanthikumar Kantharatnam, the 4 Cricketers playing at this World Cup and so many more.
The current National Coach of Canada is Pubudu Dassanayake, who has also coached other national teams including Nepal and USA.
Any final thoughts before the World Cup?
There are 4 Sri Lankan-Canadians representing the Canada National Team at this World Cup – make no mistake that we represent Sri Lanka as much as we represent Canada. The love we have for both countries is immense. May the best team win.
I would also like to thank ThePapare.com on behalf of the Canadian Over 60s National team for covering this story.
Contribution by Abbad Fowzan
