Cricket players in Ottawa will soon have more places to play, with six new cricket pitches set to be built to accommodate increased enthusiasm for the game.
Players such as Sahil Yadav, have seen the growth first hand and he welcomes the announcement from the city.
“As of now, the whole cricket community [here] has more than 1,000 players, but we only have about five grounds, which isn’t enough,” Yadav said. “These new pitches will solve many of these issues and allow more people to play competitively.”
Yadav came to Ottawa from India in 2020 to study microbiology and immunology at the University of Ottawa. He was looking for opportunities to stay active and meet people during the pandemic, and a friend introduced him to the Cathedral Cricket Club, one of the city’s oldest teams.
“I contacted the club, and from there I got a chance to play. After a couple of years, I also became part of the uOttawa cricket team and captained the team for two years,” he said.
Yadav says part of the growth of the sport is tied to the city’s changing population and the strong cultural connection many players have to cricket.
“Cricket plays a huge role in building community because it’s a team game. A lot of people come with their families, and we get to know different cultures. When I came here, I knew nobody, but now I have more than 500 contacts and a lot of good friends,” he said.
What was once considered a marginal sport in Ottawa is becoming a more visible part of the city’s recreational landscape, said Yadav.
For Devang Dave, vice president of the Kanata Cricket Club, the growth of interest in the sport in Ottawa has brought excitement and challenges.
“Over the past few years, cricket has gone from a niche sport to one of the city’s fastest-growing recreational communities, with player numbers and league demand increasing significantly,” he said. “The interest now far exceeds the capacity of existing grounds.”
Kanata Cricket Club was established in 2022, one of the newer cricket clubs in Ottawa built in response to a growing demand for the sport.
“In some cases, we’ve had to cap or redirect interest simply because of limited field and schedule capacity,” said Dave. “Practice time, especially, is scarce and often pushed into inconvenient or sub-optimal slots.”
City officials say the new facilities will ease scheduling pressures, reduce wear on existing grounds and allow more clubs and teams to participate.
“Having more pitches means we can run better coaching sessions and programs for juniors and women, instead of every team competing for the same limited slots,” Dave said. “It will also make matches and practices safer and more consistent.”
Most cricket clubs in Ottawa focus on adult competitive leagues. Organizations such as Planet Cricket Ottawa offer structured coaching for younger players, with programs designed to teach basic skills such as batting and bowling.
The shortage of space for cricket in Ottawa is partly because of the size of the fields required. While a standard cricket pitch — where the bowler delivers the ball to the batter — measures about 20 metres long and three metres wide, a full cricket field is much larger. The playing area is typically a circle or oval with a diameter of 140 to 150 meters, roughly 1.5 times the length of a standard soccer pitch, making it one of the largest team sports fields.
In a press conference on March 4, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said “we’re not talking about one cricket pitch here, we’re talking about a dramatic increase in spaces for cricket, recreational and competitive, right across our city.”
The City of Ottawa proposal of six cricket pitches, includes four competitive fields and one recreational space, with a sixth location to be confirmed.
One pitch is proposed for François Dupuis District Park in Orléans South–Navan.
The local councillor, Catherine Kitts says the project reflects the changing recreational needs of the community as interest in cricket grows.
“Cricket has been a growing sport in Ottawa and in the east end, and the Cumberland Cricket Club has been advocating for a permanent home for many years,” Kitts said.
She described the addition of new cricket infrastructure as a significant step forward for the sport locally.
“This is a really exciting addition,” she said. “Bringing regulation-size cricket pitches to Ward 19 creates opportunities to host games and tournaments locally.”
Kitts added that the investment also reflects the diversity of the community and the importance of providing inclusive recreational spaces.
“Orléans South is an incredibly diverse community and providing space for a sport like cricket helps ensure our recreation offerings reflect that diversity,” she said.
For now, cricket’s rise in Ottawa is being driven by the grassroots as work on new pitches won’t be happening until later in the year. Players, teams and communities like the Kanata Cricket Club continue to build the sport.
Dave says that if these projects proceed as planned, Ottawa could become a model for integrating cricket into a modern, multicultural city. With Canada’s recent participation in the T20 World Cup and cricket projected to join the 2028 Summer Olympics, local players are increasingly motivated to take their game to a higher level.
Construction on the first grounds — Millennium Park — could begin as early as 2027, with some fields expected to open by 2028.
