The Ravens Cricket Club (RCC) kicked off the Carleton Ravens-Ottawa Valley Cricket Club (OVCC) winter league with a win and a loss Feb. 4 in Carleton’s Fieldhouse.
Four teams competed Feb. 4, including the Ottawa Cricket Club and last year’s champions, the Canterbury Cricket Club.
The league consists of nine teams, three of which are made up of Carleton students, according to RCC treasurer Kostya Frolov. The other six teams also include some Carleton students, but are mostly made up of other players.
Frolov said he has high expectations for the Ravens this year.
“We’re expecting Carleton to get first or second place,” he said.
The last time Carleton won was in 2010.
RCC president Muhammed Mubasin said the need to concentrate at every moment makes cricket a special sport for him.
“Concentration is the key to winning. If you lose your concentration even once — I’m not going to lie, sometimes it gets boring . . . but if you lose your concentration in that time, when you’re bored, you will lose,” he said. “That’s the whole point. You have to be concentrated for every second. That’s what I love about it.”
The league will continue with games every Saturday evening in the Fieldhouse, Mubasin said. Each team will have the opportunity to play every other team once. The four teams with the highest number of wins will move on to the semifinal, and then the final.
This is the first year Mubasin is in charge of the club and league. He said he’s excited about the prospects of the upcoming year.
“I’m very excited, actually, because last year it wasn’t this organized . . . we have more people coming and helping us out,” he said. “It’s not like a two man show like last year.”
Because of the high demand, Mubasin said he had to turn three teams away from registering in the league.
Thanks to the prices that other clubs pay, students on the RCC don’t have to pay as much to be a part of the league, he said.
“Six other teams are paying double, some even triple, to cover students, and I’m asking a really small amount from students, because I know students can’t pay that much,” he said. “I’m a student myself.”
