The N.C. State Cricket club will participate in the Regional Cricket Tournament, held in Washington D.C. this weekend. This is the first time that a Wolfpack Cricket Club will participate in the tournament and the first time it will participate at the university level.

“This is the first time playing this tournament,” Hardik Parekh, a graduate student in civil engineering said. “Though we have been playing successfully in other functions.”

Parekh, who has played cricket since the age of eight, has been a member of the club for three years and as of July 2010 has been acting as club president. Parekh is pleased with the progress he has seen with the club — not just in his time on the team — but since State formed its first club cricket team in 1998.

“This is one of the best teams in N.C. State history,” Parekh said. “Right now we are have an entire cricket team and are playing well together.  When the club started up again last January we already had 10 to 20 members and now we have 35 to 40 acting members.”

The team also has ten non-active members who are able to play and learn about the game of cricket without playing in competitive matches. The club is a registered sports club at State and it usually practices on Fridays at the lower intramural fields at 5:00 p.m., while the matches are played on either Saturdays or Sundays. The team usually starts its season in the beginning of fall semester and plays though the end of spring semester to the summer.

The Midatlantic Championship tournament is a university-level tournament which the team was invited to after winning the championship at the club level last year. There are big schools participating this weekend along with the club team like Penn State, Maryland and Georgetown. If the team wins their first two games they play again Sunday and if it wins that game it will participate in the championship next spring.

 ”We are really looking forward to this opportunity,” Swapnil Gupta, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, said. “It is also a great chance to play some good teams and have some good experiences getting to know people and students around the midatlatnic area.”

The team will leave this weekend for the Washington, stay one day in the capital and another day in Maryland. Though the team is not sure how the change in climate will affect their playing, they are excited for their chances this weekend.

Their traveling expenses are generously being covered by Dr. Bhupender Gupta, professor in textile engineering chemistry and science, at N.C. State.

“We are very grateful to Dr. Gupta not only for his willingness to write the funds for the club but also for the support he gives us,” Parekh said. “Aside from funding he gives us confidence and helps us organize the club.”