The Cannons
Halifax Cricket Club, known as the Cannons, is an amateur cricket club that plays in the Halifax Cricket League (HCL) in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Cannons were formed in late 2018 when the Nova Scotia Cricket Association (NSCA) converted the HCL to an independent club structure. Previously, the HCL was organized in a centralized manner with players registering with the league and being allocated among the four HCL teams. One of these teams, Halifax Blue, was the foundation for what became the mighty Cannons. We currently have three teams in the summer league, participating in Divisions 1, 2 and 3 of the HCL against the other three clubs in the league. We are hoping that the NSCA will be able to obtain more playing facilities in the future and expand the HCL to more than the current three divisions, so that we can grow with it.
The club started in a great position as defending champions of both Division 1 and Division 2, having won them as Blue in 2018. The club quickly earned a reputation as the best organized and most social club in the league, with many players wanting to join the club due to this. Off field, the club has had a very successful first couple of years gaining sponsors and developing a great club culture that remains the envy of the league. On field, success came a bit slower. Our first season in 2019 did include a runners-up effort from our Division 2 team, but our Division 1 team finished fourth in both the league and the Deonarine Cup.
2020 saw a renewed effort towards on field success, while still putting emphasis on building the club culture. Some good recruiting and a productive pre-season training program had the club primed for success. Our Division 1 team started strongly and came within a whisker of the club’s first trophy in the mid-season Deo Cup, losing on Net Run Rate by a tiny margin. This close miss did not discourage the team, and they bounced back to finish the regular season in 1st place and direct into the Finals, where they bounced back from a Game 1 loss to win the series 2-1 and win the first trophy in club history. Our Div 2 team showed a lot of promise but eventually fell at the semi-final stage.
The league and our club grew in 2021 with the addition of Division 3, allowing us to grow our playing roster to over 40 players. The Cannons Div 1 team weren't able to defend their championship, narrowly losing multiple games that they managed to win a year earlier, ultimately coming 4th in the league and 3rd in the Deo Cup. Our Div 2 team finished the season in 1st place with some great teamwork, but unfortunately lost the final. Our Div 3 team made up of many rookies lost some close games but maintained a positive team spirit and were rewarded with wins in their last 2 games to finish on a high, but outside the playoffs. 2021 also saw a separate 40 over league played on Fridays, and the Cannons made the final but lost by 2 wickets in a nail biter.
2022 sees some exciting new faces on our roster and a lot of confidence that we can add to our trophy cabinet, while continuing to build the best cricket club culture in Atlantic Canada.
If you want to be involved in this, contact us at halifaxcricketclub@gmail.com.