First high school cricket facilities in city at Dakota Collegiate

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This article was published 13/09/2016 (2773 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dakota Collegiate will officially open Winnipeg’s first high school cricket batting and bowling cage in a grand ceremony at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

The cage is suitable for fastball as well, and will be open to the community when not in school use.

The batting, bowling and pitching cage is part of Dakota’s campaign to transform its rocky back fields — a former construction materials dump site — into Alumni Field athletic complex grandeur.

“We have more than 1,200 students who have come to Dakota from more than 50 countries,” Dakota principal Jill Mathez said in a news release Wednesday. “Our sports programming needs to reflect the interests and cultural traditions of our students, and that includes the sport of cricket, which is exceptionally popular in many regions around the world.”

Funding for the $117,840 project came from the city and province ($40,000), The Winnipeg Foundation ($10,000), private funding from the Winnipeg cricket community ($10,000) and from funds raised through Alumni Field gala dinners ($57,840).

Dakota is the first high school in Winnipeg to build a batting cage suitable for cricket, school officials said. Players will use it to practice cricket bowling and batting, and Dakota’s girls fastball team will use it for pitching and batting practice. The broader community will also have access to it when not in use by students.

St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes and a representative from the province will attend the launch as well as Abdul Haseeb, a recent Dakota Collegiate graduate who now plays for the Canadian National Junior Cricket Team.