The Auburn University Club Cricket team competed in the Vanderbilt University Cricket Trophy Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 22-23.
The Tigers lost in the semi-finals of the tournament, 81-80, to Mississippi State University.
The Vanderbilt University Cricket Trophy is the unofficial SEC conference tournament, said team captain Naveenan Thiagarajan, a graduate student in mechanical engineering.
"It doesn't matter what teams are going to be there, we're going to win," Thiagarajan said.
Auburn's team won the fourth annual BullDawg Championship Tournament July 26 at Mississippi State University, one of the biggest collegiate cricket tournaments.
Other teams that competed in the BullDawg Championship were Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, University of Alabama at Huntsville, University of Tennessee at Memphis and Alabama A&M.
The team practices multiple times a week at the Martin Luther King Park at 190 Byrd St. and at the University's intramural fields.
Despite their success, the team is not yet authorized by the University.
"We are getting our new equipment next week," said Rahul Potghan, a right-handed batswing and a graduate student in computer science. "We are making a Web site, but it's not up yet."
Cricket originated in England, but is now played in many countries.
"The big teams are India, Australia, England and South Africa," said vice captain Prasanna Venkatesh, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer sciences. "We have been playing since childhood."
"It's a lot like baseball," said Shyam Chattanathan, a graduate student in civil engineering and the opener for the team.
A batter or batswing stands in front of a wicket, which consists of three poles nailed into the ground.
The bowler for the other team pitches a ball and attempts to hit the wicket. The batswing must protect his wicket and hit the ball.
If the ball hits the wicket, the batswing is out.
If the batswing hits the ball, he runs to the other side of the field to score as many "runs" as possible before the other team destroys his wicket.
If he hits the ball outside of the ring without bouncing first, that counts as six runs. If the ball bounces outside the ring, that counts as four runs.
Cricket can be a high scoring game, with some scores reaching above 200.
Scores are reported on a runs to wickets ratio. If a team scores 80 runs, and the other team hits five wickets, the score is reported as 80/5.
"The team has been around for a long time, people just come and play and go," Thiagarajan said.
Thiagarajan said they hope to be an official University team by the end of the month.
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