Cricket club possible at SDSU

Brian Kimmes

Brian Kimmes

SDSU students have played cricket for years, but only now is a cricket club forming as the team is in the process of becoming an official SDSU club.

While the team does not have club status yet, they still compete. The team participated in an eight-team cricket tournament in Fargo, N.D. the weekend of Sept. 17. The team played in and won the same tournament last year. This year, however, they did not fare as well. The team did well though, making it to the semi-finals. They won their first three league games to make it to the semi-finals, but lost and ended the tournament in third place

Since the team is not a club yet, they’ve had to find funding on their own. The players themselves could not come up with the money, so they found sponsors. Aramark Food Service, Hy-Vee, Banner Associates and the Indian Student Association contributed to the team. SDSU also helped out. President Miller made sure that the team had enough money to make the trip to Fargo.

The team meets to practice mainly on weekends and have matches at the end of the spring semester and the beginning of the fall semester. The big cricket tournaments are held in September. During the summer, most of the players go home. However, the players that stay in Brookings try to get together with other schools for practice games. Teams from Marshall and Sioux Falls traveled to Brookings to play during the summer. The cricket team hosts the matches on Sylvan Green, using the sidewalk in the middle as the pitch.

SDSU told the team that a cricket field will be built in the free space behind the HPER by the intramural fields. With a new, proper field, the team hopes to host a tournament some day.

Presently, the team has about 35 players. Not all of them are SDSU students though. The team has players from the community and a couple of players from Dakota State University. When the team reaches full club status, the players that are not from SDSU will not be allowed to play in tournaments. However, anybody can practice with the team, even if they are not SDSU students.

Most of the players on the team were not born in the United States The majority of them grew up in other countries, where cricket is regularly played. They grew up playing cricket much the same way that Americans grow up playing baseball or football.

The club would like to extend its thanks to President Peggy Miller, SDSU Athletic Department, Aramark, and Hy-Vee and Banner Associates Inc. for helping them and supporting them in the tournament.

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