In this week’s edition of In Search of West Indies Cricket, the second of two parts, Roger Seymour recounts the performance of the West Indies at the 1999 DMC Cricket Festival, Toronto, Canada. Recap In August 1999, the highly anticipated fourth edition of the annual Sahara Cup Tournament between India and Pakistan was cancelled because of the Kargil War which took place between May and July in the Kashmir Valley. At the midnight hour, International Management Group (IMG), the desperate organisers, had adroitly wangled the services of the West Indies team to salvage the event.
Under the revamped arrangements the rivals would play the West Indies in two separate three-match tournaments in the DMC Toronto Cricket Festival. The somnambulists Saturday, 11th September, the first match of the DMC Cup between India and the West Indies. The late summer weather of the early morning – clear blue sky, sunny, cool, light breeze – was perfect for cricket as the West Indies team boarded their coach at the luxurious Sutton Place Hotel located on the Bay Street corridor of Downtown Toronto.
The coach wove its way northbound along the elegant Avenue Road, through the well-established upscale Toronto neighbourhoods of the Annex, Forest Hills, Caribou Park, Lytton, Bedford Park, and Ledbury Park, on the ten kilometre journey to the Toronto Cricket, Skating, & Curling Club (TCSCC) at 141 Wilson Avenue. Aged Maple and Oak trees lining the sidewalks, shaded the well-manicured lawns of the el.
