On Thursday night 13 September a number of enthusiastic students populated the PSV cricket field at Karel Martelweg. In groups numbering about six persons they were instructed in the different components of the game: ‘fielding’, ‘batting’ and ‘bowling’. Instructor Vishwanath Parimi, a member of the PSV Tegenbosch cricket team, is satisfied with the students’ fielding performance. “You can see that they have engaged in similar sports: they can catch a ball. Beginners do not catch anything.”
Parimi was asked by Das to run the workshop together with some other PSV players. Das developed this idea for a test night when Student Faculty Association Japie asked him to organize an activity that would bring Dutch and foreign students into contact with each other.
Unfortunately, there were only two non-Dutch participants among the group of nineteen on the night of the workshop.
Das does have an explanation for the low turnout of foreign students: “Cricket is relatively unknown and has a boring image. Moreover, the people who are interested in the game have usually had so much practice that they don’t need an introductory workshop anymore. Still, for me the night was a success: we have brought the beautiful sport of cricket to the masses”, says Das, showing an almost comic grin. Then, serious again: “Perhaps we are going to have a follow-up workshop - we shall certainly be looking at the options if participants ask for this.”/.

Indian initiative: cricket at the Sports Center

Next Saturday, 22 September, will be the first time there will be a cricket practice at the TU/e Student Sports Center. Everybody is welcome to acquaint themselves with this typically English sport. The trainer is a man from India, who works for Philips. The initiative is from another Indian: 26-year-old Chattarbir Singh, doctoral candidate at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. People without sports cards can join in as well.
It is Singh’s intention to introduce the sport to Dutch students. He is counting on the international students at the TU/e who are already familiar with this sport to come and help him get Dutch students properly playing cricket. Singh hopes that the practices, scheduled on Saturdays from 14.30 to 16.30 hours on the pitch next to the fitness gym, will eventually attract twenty to thirty people. He himself has played cricket for PSV Tegenbosch for three years now, where he estimates that more than a dozen other TU/e students/employees go in for this sport.
The practice will not begin with the customary hard ball, by the way, but with a soft ball, to help aspiring cricket players get used to things. Participation in the first two cricket practices (on 22 and 29 September) is still possible without a sports card, but after that a card will be required.