BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) - The British Empire is gone. The British Commonwealth is now simply known as the Commonwealth. But some of the mother country’s culture and sports remain.
One of those sports, the second most popular in the world and also a piece of British culture, has found its way to the campus of South Dakota State University: cricket.
Dr. Hemachand Tummala, associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, serves as adviser to the SDSU Cricket Club. The vast majority of the club’s 35 members are international students; many of them are pursuing doctorates. They hail from nations that once were colonies or territories colored red on maps that gave evidence the sun never set on the British Empire and its Commonwealth.
And cricket remained in all those places. Had the colonies that became the United States remained loyal to the mother country, cricket rather than baseball might be our national pastime today. Both are alike in some ways and not so alike in others.
In the simplest of terms, cricket is like baseball in that both are bat-and-ball games between two opposing teams. A baseball team has nine players; a cricket team has 11. Both games are played on a grass-and-dirt field.
In both games there is a player (in baseball a pitcher, in cricket a bowler) who throws the ball to a batter who tries to hit it and score runs without getting out.
But beyond these basic similarities, there are major differences. And there are opportunities to learn more about baseball’s cousin by watching the SDSU Cricket Club in action.
Of the SDSU club’s cricket style, Tammala told the Brookings Register (https://bit.ly/1EARfBy ), “Mostly it is recreational rather than professional. It’s kind of a home-away-from-home thing. It’s a common thread that keeps us together. It’s a place where we make friends. If anybody needs help, it’s a community. It’s very, very important for the whole community that way.”
That recreational stance has led to a modification to the game that while it might not set well for cricket purists it ensures the safety of both players and spectators.
SDSU player Satya Sadhu explained, “Here’s the challenge. A cricket ball is much harder and heavier than a baseball. We don’t want to injure anyone.”
A search of the Internet yields many a report of serious and fatal injuries to players hit by cricket balls. That potential for serious injury has led to the wearing of protective equipment, particularly helmets by batsmen.
Additionally, clubs, particularly amateur ones, in the name of safety and not having the funds for protective equipment, have turned to playing a match with a “tape ball.”
Tammala added, “It’s not a real cricket-ball game they play here. We take a tennis ball and wrap it with electrical tape; so it behaves like a cricket ball. But it doesn’t hurt you, so you don’t need the pads, the helmet.
“That’s what the whole world is playing now. Everywhere it’s happening.”
While the SDSU club members now play cricket in a more relaxed, recreational and social setting, some have played the real-deal, leather-ball version.
Tummala said, “When I was in university in India, I played for my university team. That was the real cricket. But now we don’t have the protective gear.
“This is not a professional sport; this is more for fun.” And the club finds the fun year round. In good weather it plays outside. In winter the action moves into the intramural building, “the barn.”
Sadhu said the SDSU Cricket Club is the only organized club in South Dakota, and it’s done well in competition. The club recently won a tournament in Mankato, Minnesota, finishing first of eight clubs competing. This tournament has been going for about the past 10 to 15 years.
Tummala asid that in 2014 there were 12 teams that competed. SDSU won the tournament in 2008 and was runner-up in 2011.
With no teams in the area, the club looks within its own ranks to set up matches. It is big enough that it can be divided into smaller teams that in turn can play one another in a sort of intramural league. Most of their matches last two to three hours. Additionally, the club organizes cricket games and demonstrations around a variety of social gatherings. Tummala added, “Every year we invite all the dorm students to introduce cricket to them. They’ll come and provide the drinks. They have fun and watch cricket. Every year we do one or two activities like that.”
Additionally, he’s working to set up a cricket demonstration at Camelot Intermediate School, where his son is a student.
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Information from: Brookings Register, https://www.brookingsregister.com/
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