CAMPBELL RIVER, British Columbia — It feels very strange to sit at a desk with the snow piled up outside and write about cricket, which I don’t think has ever been played in the snow anywhere in the world and is strictly a fair-weather sport and pastime for the spring, summer and fall  – in the outdoor version anyway.

And it also feels a little strange but of course very uplifting to be writing about how wonderfully strong cricket has become in Campbell River in the more than 20 years since I first got back into it in adulthood. Which happened nearly 40 years after I left cricket in school back in England!

Way back in those earliest days, to be honest, I regarded it as a pretty boring compulsory activity, particularly in the form it was played then –  very different from its current much more entertaining iterations! Then it seemed to move along with all the speed of a contest between very sleepy slug and disinterested snail. That was because the promoters and supporters of the classic form of the sport preferred it that way and thought perhaps that that added to the tradition and mystique of the olden-day village sport, especially in England and the far-flung corners of the births Empire.

But I’m glad to say that that’s a far cry from the modernized, often truly exciting and exhilarating style of cricket which is often played for one-day matches here in CR and in other parts of Vancouver Island, sometimes even down in our more hide-bound provincial capital of Victoria.

And best of all, I’m very happy to report that so many people of different ages and widely varying skills and experience have been showing up for practice on the new permanent, artificial pitch on the Carihi School playing field (installed just last year), that the organizers and leaders of CR Cricket Club have come up with a marvellous mix of fixtures and Elevens (XI – that’s the number of players in a full cricket team) for the upcoming 2022 season.

Club director Aaron O’Shannessey, as one of the proudest parents in the club, told me there will be Kids’ Clinics for youngsters in two age groups – 5 to 7 and 8-12 – on Mondays from about 3 to 5:30 p.m., starting perhaps in June.

And plans are afoot for women to have their own one day of cricket among themselves sometime in August.

And CR Cricket Club has such an outstanding body of skilled bowlers and batsmen, as well as agile fielders, that the club recently filed an application to have its First XI join the much-vaunted Victoria Cricket League. The club was hoping for a welcoming reply to that in January.

Then there’s the second XI under captain Jos Bell, who will play for more social and recreational purposes, maybe about six games versus other clubs during the season.

And last but not least, as they so kindly say, there’s the Masters’ XI, which comes under organizer and stimulator John Jepson. Like me, John is no longer quite as young and light on his feet as some of the fitter and keener players in the club, but he’s a good deal faster and better than me and continues to play alongside many of the younger element, many of whom are drawn from backgrounds in India, with some from Pakistan and Sri Lanka. All are as keen as mustard and bring some sterling cricket to the field!

President Jim Bagley has assured me John has begun at least four full matches for the Masters’ XI for 2022, including a couple against the Wicket Maidens out of Victoria, that area highly respected and much admired, skilled all-women’s team.

In the evenings on Mondays, we can expect a whole variety of highly enjoyable and most entertaining six-a-side games in a kind of ever-shifting, internal league, mixed gender and played strictly for fun, social interaction, sportsmanship and good exercise, even for those on the sidelines like me. And of course visitors, spectators and supporters are always welcome.

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