Dufferin Cup cricket tournamnet underway in Shelburne

Written By Brian Lockhart

The inaugural Dufferin Cup Cricket Tournament is now underway in Shelburne as four teams battle it out on the local cricket pitch to claim the regional title.

The tournament is an extension of the Shelburne Cricket Club's summer season. The SCC's house league wrapped up with a championship game on Sept. 3, with the Warriors claiming the 2023 title.

Organizers wanted to keep cricket going into the fall, so they organized this first-ever tournament featuring teams from several different towns. They invited clubs from around the area to put together their best teams to compete for the Dufferin Cup. Each club was allowed to handpick players for their team to enter the tournament.

Day one of the tournament took place on Saturday, Sept. 9.

“Shelburne Cricket Club house league is a league where individual players register and they play the cricket house league to learn the game and play from May to September,” explained Shelburne Cricket Club president Ahsen Siddiqui. “The house league is done. This tournament is the first time we've done this in Dufferin Country. This is more premium cricket so it's the best players from SCC and the surrounding area. They play crickets in other leagues. There are four teams. In this tournament the teams get registered, not the players, so the captain is allowed to bring any of his best players from around the GTA. Whoever wins this tournament will win a money-tree of $5,000.”

With a sizeable quantity of cash as the prize for the winning team, the squads are giving their best effort on the pitch.

“It's a short tournament so each team will play six games and the final will be on Oct. 15,” Ahsen said. “The whole idea is to bring the Dufferin Cup here and bring people and tourism here.”

Teams entered in the tournament include the Shelburne Stallions, Amaranth Wolves, Orangeville Tigers, and the Mono Mights.

On the tournament's first day, the Mono Mights won 130 -129 over the Orangeville Tigers, and the Shelburne Stallions won 119 – 78 over the Amaranth Wolves.

Day two of the tournament will take place on Saturday, Sept. 16, with the final championship game scheduled for Oct. 15.