Earliest Documented Cricket at Halifax, Nova Scotia — Garrison Match, July 1812

Halifax had been a British garrison town since 1749. Cricket was almost certainly played informally before 1812 but no record survives.

The British garrison at Halifax — already substantial because of Halifax's role as the Royal Navy's North American base — had been reinforced in spring 1812 against the threat of war with the United States. Cricket was a regimental sport carried wherever British troops served; the July 1812 garrison match, recorded in the regimental orderly book of the 99th Foot, was played on the open ground below Citadel Hill. The Officers won 64 to 41 in a single-innings match. The orderly book entry is the earliest reference to cricket in Canada.

Cricket continued in Halifax through the nineteenth century. The first Canadian first-class match — Toronto v New York — was played in 1844, and the first Canada-USA international (cricket's earliest international fixture in any form) followed in 1844.