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Cricket Club to host Midwest’s largest tournament April 10-12

Midwest's largest tourney on campus this weekend.

2009-04-13
Minnesota State University, Mankato Media Relations Office news release [4/9/2009]

Minnesota State Mankato’s Cricket Club will host the Midwest’s largest collegiate cricket tournament Friday through Sunday, April 10-12.

The interstate, 14-team event begins at 6 p.m. Friday in Myers Field House and continues overnight, as well as all day Saturday and all day Sunday. Saturday games will be indoors in the field house and outdoors behind Gage Center. Quarterfinals will start Sunday at 9 a.m.; semifinals will be at 5 and 7 p.m.; and the final match will be at 9 p.m. Sunday.

Tournament contests are free and open to students, faculty, staff and the public.

Five local teams as well as teams from Minnesota State Mankato Alumni, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Dakota State (Madison, S.D.), St. Cloud State, University of Minnesota, Iowa League, Minnesota Cricket League and St. Cloud State Alumni are registered to participate.

“It is a great opportunity for the domestic students and community members to learn about a sport that is loved by millions in Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa and Central America,” says club member Irfan Bangash.

The tournament will be dedicated to College of Business Dean Scott Johnson, a strong supporter of the three-year-old tournament and of the campus Cricket Club. During the tournament the club will present Johnson with a cricket bat signed by captains of the participating teams.

Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport between two teams, usually with 11 players each. The match is played on a grass field with a flat surface called a pitch in the middle. At each end of the pitch is a set of three parallel wooden stakes (“stumps”) and two crosspieces (“bails”), which together are called “wickets.”

A player bowls a hard, fist-sized leather ball from one wicket toward the other. The batsman from the opposing team defends the wicket from the ball with a wooden bat. Other members of the bowler’s team stand in various positions around the field. The match is won by the team that scores more runs.

Cricket originated in its modern form in England and is popular in present and former members of the Commonwealth. In India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, cricket is the most popular sport, and it is a major sport in England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Bermuda and English-speaking Caribbean countries.

The tournament is sponsored by Campus Recreation, Student Allocation Committee, the Colleges of Business and Science, Engineering & Technology, International Student Association, David Cowan and Mike Levine. Those who have questions may contact Irfan Bangash at bangash.irfan@gmail.com or Aatif Zaidi at syed.zaidi-2@mnsu.edu.

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