2008 Woodie Awards
Students may see new sport on campus
Staff Report
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Sports
The University of Northern Colorado may see a new, foreign sport on campus.
The international sport cricket, most popular in commonwealth nations like India, Australia and South Africa, could call UNC one of its new homes, yet the cricket club is only in its premature stages. Freshman theatre major Phillip Doumas has advertised the club on Facebook. The club's Facebook group currently has 19 members.
Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport that, according to Doumas, is most similar to baseball. Cricket is played in a large oval field, or pitch. Eleven fielders take the field, including a pitcher, called the bowler. The bowler pitches to two batters simultaneously, yet instead of throwing strikes to a catcher, the bowler is throwing the ball at a wicket placed behind both batters.
The batter's job is to protect the wicket by hitting the ball. After hitting the ball, the batter's job is to run across the field to the opposite wicket where the other batter stands to score a run. The fielder's job is to get the out by catching the ball, or throwing the ball at the wicket. Unlike baseball's innings, cricket plays with a complex set of "overs."
Doumas said he plans to have cricket games at the field next to Gunter Hall. He said he's starting the club as a student organization unattached from the university and just as a group interested in playing the sport.
"I'm kind of just going for the cricket club idea because I don't really know what the interest is," Doumas said. "Personally, I'm highly invested in the sport of cricket and I don't know how many people around Greeley that are interested in Cricket enough to seriously play."
Doumas cited Colorado State University as having a Cricket team registered in the Colorado Cricket League.
"Maybe in a couple years we'll have enough people and enough skill to call ourselves a team," he said.
According to Doumas, cricket, an admired sport overseas, may have a more difficult time being accepted in the United States. He said that Americans wouldn't have the patience to play or watch conventional cricket, however Doumas said that if the sport's rules were modified, cricket could be more easily accepted.
"It's a game that involves a lot of tactical skill on the part of the batsman and the fielders," he said. "Unlike baseball, you can hit the ball in essentially any direction you want to… So it opens the field up to a much wider way of playing, so I think it's very interesting because there's a lot more you can do and a lot more you can think about as far as how you play the ball
The international sport cricket, most popular in commonwealth nations like India, Australia and South Africa, could call UNC one of its new homes, yet the cricket club is only in its premature stages. Freshman theatre major Phillip Doumas has advertised the club on Facebook. The club's Facebook group currently has 19 members.
Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport that, according to Doumas, is most similar to baseball. Cricket is played in a large oval field, or pitch. Eleven fielders take the field, including a pitcher, called the bowler. The bowler pitches to two batters simultaneously, yet instead of throwing strikes to a catcher, the bowler is throwing the ball at a wicket placed behind both batters.
The batter's job is to protect the wicket by hitting the ball. After hitting the ball, the batter's job is to run across the field to the opposite wicket where the other batter stands to score a run. The fielder's job is to get the out by catching the ball, or throwing the ball at the wicket. Unlike baseball's innings, cricket plays with a complex set of "overs."
Doumas said he plans to have cricket games at the field next to Gunter Hall. He said he's starting the club as a student organization unattached from the university and just as a group interested in playing the sport.
"I'm kind of just going for the cricket club idea because I don't really know what the interest is," Doumas said. "Personally, I'm highly invested in the sport of cricket and I don't know how many people around Greeley that are interested in Cricket enough to seriously play."
Doumas cited Colorado State University as having a Cricket team registered in the Colorado Cricket League.
"Maybe in a couple years we'll have enough people and enough skill to call ourselves a team," he said.
According to Doumas, cricket, an admired sport overseas, may have a more difficult time being accepted in the United States. He said that Americans wouldn't have the patience to play or watch conventional cricket, however Doumas said that if the sport's rules were modified, cricket could be more easily accepted.
"It's a game that involves a lot of tactical skill on the part of the batsman and the fielders," he said. "Unlike baseball, you can hit the ball in essentially any direction you want to… So it opens the field up to a much wider way of playing, so I think it's very interesting because there's a lot more you can do and a lot more you can think about as far as how you play the ball
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