Story by Michael Guidice
Photos by Albert Jung
This past Sunday afternoon most people seemed confused as they passed by the turf fields next to the Rec Center.
“Seems like there’s more action than in baseball,” one passerby noted. “I wonder what the ball is made of?” asked another. Finally, one particularly puzzled individual had an epiphany when he exclaimed, “Wait, they’re not playing lacrosse?!”
The activity in question was cricket, and Sunday marked the official start to the 2011 season for the University’s cricket club. On a much larger scale, the recent conclusion of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup had interest and enthusiasm surrounding the sport at an all-time high—at least internationally.
The 2011 World Cup was broadcast to over 200 countries with more than a billion viewers tuning in. The rights to air the event from 2007 to 2015 cost $1.2 billion dollars (the buyer was ESPN-Star, a joint venture between the worldwide leader in sports and Rupert Murdoch’s Star network). Clearly, cricket is a global obsession Americans should at least know something about.
The sport is most relatable to baseball. Both operate on similar principles: someone is throwing the ball—the pitcher in baseball, the bowler in cricket—attempting to defeat the bat-wielding opposition whose goal is to defend the target—the invisible strike zone or the ever-present wicket—while simultaneously trying to score runs.
Beyond that, things get convoluted. University junior Brandon Lee, one of only two “Yanks” on the team, has been with the club since his freshman year. Citing curiosity as his main reason for joining, Lee admits to struggling with the rules for years before finally grasping most of the game’s intricacies. Now that he’s familiar with the sport, Lee’s ready to once again become one with the pitch (the playing surface where most of the action takes place).
“I’m just looking forward to good cricket and good, competitive matches,” he said about the upcoming season. Judging by this first game, a tight match between the campus team against Portland State University with PSU eventually winning, we’ve got a lot of good, competitive matches to look forward to.
Cricket, much like soccer, will most likely never resonate within the heart and soul of most US citizens like it does abroad. That doesn’t seem to bother the ethnically-diverse UO club, however, as they embrace yet another new season of “the gentleman’s game.”
