Mason cricket team captures national title

The George Mason cricket team poses with their trophy following their victory over Montgomery College in the national championship. (Photo courtesy of the GMU cricket team).

Unbeknownst to most students at George Mason University, there is in fact a cricket team. And they happen to be pretty good. They recently took down Montgomery College to win the Cahanderpaul Trophy, which is the cricket national championship.

In the semifinal, the Patriots eliminated the cricketers from the University of Pennsylvania in what was a close contest. This win set the stage for a matchup with Montgomery College in the finals, a team that won the national championship in 2009 and is considered Mason’s rival squad.

Yet, the Patriots proved to be too much for them to handle this time around. Mason batted first in the match and put up 138 runs, which is a solid score in cricket. Montgomery followed and fell a little short with a score of 124 runs, solidifying Mason’s national title.

“It felt as though our efforts were being paid off and this was going to be the first among the many championships that we will be winning,” senior cricketer Anoop Nair said.

The team, captained by Hashim Khan, has been around for two years now, and has reached the championship game both years. However, the squad is not an officially registered club team. Nair, a middle order batsman for the team, said they attempted to register to become an official club team, but it did not work out for reasons unknown to him.

In order to take home the Cahanderpaul Trophy, Mason was one of 32 teams competing in the nationwide tournament, which included both universities and community colleges. The team plans on putting the trophy on display in the Johnson Center.

Cricket is on the rise in the United States and is growing quickly within the college ranks, and is especially on the rise within the Washington Metropolitan region. In addition to Mason and Montgomery College, the University of Maryland Baltimore County also has a team.

“Winning this tournament has shown that with very little guidance we were able to win a championship,” Nair said. “If there was a cricket program in Mason, awareness of the game will spread among the youngsters and we can form a stronger team, not just for this year but every year ahead.”