Article content
The Timmins Tigers won the 2026 Mayor’s Cup at Fern Tremblay Park over the weekend.
“We are the champions now,” said manager Deepak Datta on Monday.
Recommended Videos
The Tigers beat the Thunder Bay Lions, the champions for the past two years, with a final score of 159 to 101, winning with 18 “overs.”
An “over” is a set of six good balls thrown from one end of the pitch. Once the balls are done, the umpire calls “over,” and a different bowler from the fielding team throws the next set of balls from the opposite end of the pitch. There are 20 “overs” per inning.
“This is the dream that came true. We’ve been trying to win it for the last four years.
“We bowled our hearts out. As a team, we put every effort, every energy, every bone and muscle of our body was cheering up for the team,” said Datta, noting his team’s strengths in the outfield.
All teams scored high (over 200) in the first round of matches, but the semi-finals and finals produced low-scoring games (145-150), as the pressure mounted.
Though the Tigers have won multiple Ontario-wide competitions, it is the first time they have won their hometown event at Fern Tremblay Park, held this year Aug 28-30.
Article content
Article content
An observer could not accuse the Timmins Tigers of having an unfair advantage in their unsanctioned home turf at Fern Tremblay Park, since they have finished in second place since its first year in 2023.
A total of six teams competed at the fourth-annual event. The three teams from Thunder Bay were: Superior Sporting Club, the Thunder Bay Lions and the Jammu Warriors. In addition to the Timmins Tigers, competing from Timmins were the Punjab Kings Timmins and the Timmins Thunderhawks.
Datta was pleasantly surprised that, in addition to plenty of locals, 15 families traveled from Thunder Bay, children in tow, to support their teams.
A history of cricket in Timmins
Datta was particularly touched by the presence of John Place, whose father, William, was a champion cricket player in Timmins from 1930-39, until everything stopped because of the Second World War.
“Amazing! It’s so good to know people were playing cricket here in Timmins in the 1930s,” Datta said.
In 1933 William “Bill” Place made cricket history when he won a “Century” award for hitting 100 runs in a single inning, earning him a place in the Timmins Sports Hall of Fame.
“It was the first and only recorded Century ever by a batsman in the Timmins Cricket Club,” reads the plaque.
John, who read about this weekend’s tournament in The Daily Press, now lives in Alliston, but was in town visiting friends and his parents’ gravesite.
He attended a few games with his wife. Asked to weigh in on the Tiger’s quest for a professional field, Place didn’t mince words.
“I’ll give you one word: it’s an embarrassment. These guys deserve better than that,” Place said of the current field.
“I could not imagine myself running after a ball and diving to make a catch on that ground. It’s horrible,” said Place, who played fastball growing up in Timmins.
“It’s all sloped. In some areas, the drop is about five feet. How can you go after a fly ball?”
Born and raised in Timmins, Bill had come to Canada from London, England as a post-war orphan. Over 100,000 “British home children” arrived in Canada from Great Britain as part of the British child emigration movement between 1869 and 1948.
Arriving north as an employee for the department of highways, Bill was drawn to Timmins when he heard they needed cricket and soccer players there.
“Dad ended up coming up and working at the McIntyre Mine for 42 years, and he went up there and played soccer and cricket,” John said.
“He came from a boy’s school in England, and they were very, very good at soccer and cricket and hardly ever lost.”
Economic impact of the 2026 Mayor’s Cup
Cricket is bringing visitors and economic impact to Timmins.
According to the Timmins economic development corporation, the 2026 Mayor’s Cup brought 100 visitors to Timmins for two nights, generating an estimated $33,737 in local economic impact.
The tourism development fund supported this year’s tournament with $10,000 in funding.
The future of cricket in Timmins
In August, 2025, Timmins city council voted to remove plans for a regulation-sized cricket field from Leo Del Villano Park, after a few residents complained to councillors that it would mean moving tennis and pickleball courts closer to their homes to accommodate the field.
The city’s growth and infrastructure engineering division determined it was the only developed park land that was large enough to host the cricket pitch.
The city is still casting about looking for another suitable spot.
At this year’s tournament, Datta said there were a few twisted ankles, but it wasn’t as bad as last year, when there were a few fractures.
“Twisted ankles can happen in the best fields too, but that’s not a problem,” Datta said, adding the condition of the field is still not great. Potholes were repaired in preparation for the tournament.
“There are humps, there are still potholes and the barrier nets are not high enough to stop the ball. I had to hire four guys just to fetch the ball from the creek area, so that’s a downer for us.”
“The field is still not perfect, but we have to use whatever re this field for the time being,”
Mayor Boileau did the honour of awarding the Mayor’s Cup, and remains supportive of the idea of bringing a regulation-sized cricket field to Timmins, Datta said.
“We are hopeful next year, the council will approve, but it’s an uphill task. We have to do it,” laughed Datta.
Source: www.timminspress.com
