Wickets up for Revelstoke Cricket Club’s first home game

Revelstoke Cricket Club (RCC) is readying for its first home game Sunday, May 18 at 10:30 a.m. after three games on the road for the 2025 Interior Social Cricket Tournament (ISCT). 

The club has been practicing on the home pitch this season with a couple of intersquad games, but the May 18 game is a chance to truly spotlight cricket for all of Revelstoke.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for us to showcase the game to the town, its residents, and maybe some new people who have moved to Revelstoke just this summer,” Matthew Bramall, RCC director said.

With a pitch built in Centennial Park last year, RCC is eager to play host once again this season. Teams from across B.C. and Alberta traveled to Revelstoke last season, and Bramall said the whole team revels in showcasing the best of town.

“We’re sponsored by Pam’s Kitchen, so we’re taking folks there for dinner. And then just getting to show [visitors] around, help them enjoy Revelstoke. A lot of our teammates are from India, they’re new-ish to Revelstoke and appreciate getting to give back like that, to help with our tourism.”

This season is scheduled to go deep into August with a minimum of 20 games, giving residents plenty of chances to come down to Centennial Park and cheer on the team

Bramall hopes they get the same amount of love and support the Revelstoke Grizzlies get from the community, and the RCC is taking a couple of tips from the local hockey team in getting the word out including posting game day signs around town when a home match is playing.

“We really just want to get people out to a beautiful place in our town and enjoy a fun game on a Sunday. There’s nothing better than bringing down a picnic and watching some local boys play cricket.”

For Bramall, his love of cricket started when he was a child watching the Ashes, a biennial cricket series between England and Australia. Bramall and his brother would reenact the games in the yard, and the passion for the game has stayed ever since.

“There’s never a moment with cricket where I think you fall out of love with it. You might stop it for a few years for whatever reason. But you always find yourself coming back to the sport,” Bramall said.

That love is at the heart of the big goal RCC and other ISCT teams have in sight for the coming years: to grow cricket within Interior B.C. and spread out cricket resources that have been centered in Vancouver and coastal B.C. 

The sport is already seeing a surge within the Okanagan and Columbia-Shuswap region, with what originally started as three teams growing to 10 and plans across the region to build women’s teams and youth teams.

“Our reason for being as a club is to provide opportunities to people in Revelstoke to play cricket,” Bramall said. But you don’t have to be a team member to get involved with RCC. The club is always looking for volunteers to help set up for game days, assist in promoting upcoming games and organizing future events, including possible “how to play” courses.

Even if folks can’t volunteer or join the non-profit, simply coming down to cheer the team on and enjoying a free game of cricket is more than enough.

“The members of the club really take pride in representing the Revelstoke badge in these competitive games,” Bramall said. “For them to be able to do that in front of the home crowd, I think we’ll really feed off that support.”

RCC hosts its first home game of the season Sunday, May 18 at 10:30 a.m. at Centennial Park. The game is free to attend, all ages welcome. Bring seating with you.