Cricket took root quickly in what was to become British Columbia as it was the main sport to be played by the first British settlers. Captain William Colquhoun Grant is credited with bringing the first cricket equipment to Victoria in 1849. Naval teams competed against domestic sides in British Columbian ports; in 1858 Victoria Cricket Club beat the crew of the HMS Satellite. The Victorian Cricket League was established in 1877 and by the 1880s a great rivalry had developed between the Vancouver and Victoria clubs who played against each other annually from 1888 onwards.

Page 323 of "Fifteen years' sport and life in the hunting grounds of western America and British Columbia" by William A. Baillie-Grohman related the frustration he had in trying to meet with the Chief Commissioner of Land and Works in 1885, who spent more time at lunch, playng billiards and watching the annual cricket match between Victoria and the Fleet than in his office.

There is a report of a Parsee team touring British Columbia. According to the Beaver there were about 2,000 Indians living in Canada in 1914, almost all of them were residing in British Columbia.

Link back to the first established clubs page.