By Paul Esau (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 3, 2012
A brief chat with UFV cricketers Ahmed Iqbal, Hamsa Razzak, Farooq Azam and Arslan Minhas.
Most of the team is from Pakistan, so what is the history of cricket in Pakistan?
AI: It’s been played by a long, long time. Before independence and after independence. It was brought by the Britishers when they were in India and the whole subcontinent. It was carried on by the locals and then it’s been played all over. Every street, every kid, old people to the young people. Everybody loves cricket. It’s been said that cricket is a religion of a sort there.
How young is young? When did you guys start playing cricket?
FA: Nine, 10
And where, usually?
FA: In the streets with friends. In the local parks.
Ahmed, what is the history of the cricket club at UFV?
AI: I started off in 2009 with all of these guys here, we all were together. We started having indoor tournaments because we didn’t have enough people to play outside … we had many people from different countries, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Nepal. Everyone had participated in this. Many people from Baker House showed up here, it had been quite a success. We had indoor tournaments for three years here and it was huge. More than 50 or 60 people used to show up every Friday game … those don’t happen anymore because of the new floors and [our] class schedule also.
As a team what have you guys accomplished in the last four years?
HR: We didn’t win a tournament, but we won quite a few matches. We had friendly matches with UVic and Kwantlen. We won those, we went to the finals but we didn’t win the tournament. We went to the finals this summer. Unfortunately we lost but it was a very close game and a good tournament … (including) Calgary, Victoria, Kwantlen and UFV.
What is the cricket community like in Abbotsford?
AI: It’s big. There are five teams all together. The former Canadian cricket team captain was also selected from Abbotsford, Jimmy Hansra. He also went to UFV for a brief while, he used to play with us in indoor tournaments. He’s now playing for the Canadian cricket team and was the captain for a brief while … so cricket is good in Abbotsford. Quite organized, good people, good cricket.
Which style of rules do you guys play for your matches?
HR: 50 overs.
So it takes about five hours?
FA: Five to six hours.
Do you guys get tired?
AI: It’s about the game that we like, so even if it was six to eight hours we would still play. It’s just that we love the game.
What are the scores usually around?
AI: Internationally it’s around 250 [per side] as an average total. But when we play here it’s around 150 to 200. A good team would take it to 200.
AM: Some games go close to 300.
How can UFV students get involved now with cricket?
AI: Well we used to have training sessions here before, but not anymore … If they want to join cricket they can always join the Facebook group that we have … we don’t have enough of a crowd coming in to learn cricket. We cannot organize things without having a crowd come in. If we know that there are around five to 10 people who are interested then we can do something about it like we did today.
A silly questions for you: What’s with the bat? I’m used to baseball where the bat is straight and round and you actually swing from the shoulder…
AI: In baseball you get the ball straight towards you; it doesn’t pitch. It’s a full toss it comes right at you. But [in cricket] we have to pitch the ball before the ball comes to you. For a batsman to hit it properly from the ground the bat has a curve. You have to lift the ball from the ground.
FA: The wood used for the bat is actually from the English willow tree.
I want to know, in one at-bat sequence, who has scored the most runs [on your team]?
AI: The highest score from our team was one of the ex-students here, Ali Zahoor, [who got] 72 (last year). How many have you had Hamsa?
HR: I got 51 in a match once.
For me as an amateur cricketer, what’s the worst thing I can do?
AI: You need to learn the discipline of the game. For the technical wise while playing or batting or bowling you don’t want to hurt yourself first.
AM: Always put your gear up, put your guard in, always wear a cup. Once you get those things straightened then you used the bat, you can learn how to use it. Just like you were explaining earlier if you could use [the bat] upside down and hit the edges the ball will hit it and come up to your face – which is brutal.
FA: The worst thing is “sledging” [disrespectful conduct]. It’s a gentleman’s game so you need to respect each other.
So what is sledging?
AM: When you get personal.
AI: In cricket that’s very serious, you don’t do it.
The secret to bowling is … if you had to give two tips to beginners what would you say?
HR: Don’t give a full toss and no short balls … you don’t want to give time for the batsman to make a shot … and bowl as fast as you can if you’re a fast bowler. [Laughs]
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
A big thanks to both the UFV Cricket Club for taking the time to demonstrate their sport and to Cheryl Van Nes over at the Envision Athletic Centre for letting us use the north gym.
