The University of Mississippi Graduate School

Graduate education continues to be an international experience at The University of Mississippi. This spring, graduate students organized UM's first cricket tournament.

Teams from various academic departments and schools competed in the charity event, which benefitted The Leap Frog Program, Inc. of Oxford.

The idea of a campuswide cricket tournament was conceived by Amit Patel, president-elect of the Graduate Student Council and graduate student in pharmaceutical marketing and management.

"There are about 300 to 500 Indian students on campus, and we play cricket a lot on weekends," said Patel. "I've learned football and go to the games. I've learned baseball. I was sure that there were a lot of American students who would love to learn and play cricket."

Dean of Students Thomas "Sparky"Reardon agreed with Patel, offering his support by purchasing the equipment-bats, balls, and wickets-for the tournament. Reardon was honored by bowling the first ball of the tournament.

"Many of our students come from countries cricket is a popular sport, so we thought it would be appropriate to help them get an organization set up here," said Reardon. "It's also good for all our students to see and experience something new."

John Bowling, a doctoral candidate in pharmacognosy who played cricket for the first time at the tournament, was one of those interested in the idea from the beginning. "I had often seen cricket being played in the Grove and I watched a few games when I visited England, so my interest had already been primed," said Bowling. "Our team didn't have a lot of cricket experience, but we did have a wonderful time learning the game."

A few weeks before the tournament, experienced players offered advice and instruction to American participants in a cricket orientation session and practice. "This event is really about bringing people together. The competition is just a way to unite our community for a few days of fun," said organizer Amit Patel.

Patel and others hope to build upon the success of this first event by forming a cricket club team that will compete around the region.