The College of Wooster broke the U.S. record for number of attendees at a college cricket match over Homecoming weekend with 967 viewers in the stands of John P. Papp stadium, crushing the previous record, which stood at just 400.† The College’s Cricket Club team defeated the Wooster Community Cricket Team in a very close match that ended 143-141.

It was a beautiful day for football.† It would’ve been had Earlham not moved out of conference and left the Scots without an opponent for Homecoming.† But never doubt the ingenuity of a liberal arts college as Wooster quickly scheduled other events to make up for the loss of a football game.

The strangest of those was a cricket match, the European sport that can be described as baseball’s odd uncle was the central sporting event during the Homecoming weekend Saturday and a rousing success.

In the days leading up to the match, many were skeptical to how many people would actually show up to this event.† The record for attendance at a college cricket game was 400, set last year at Montgomery College.† In the week leading up to the event there was a rallying cry from Wooster administration, Maaz Tasneem Khan ’11, the Cricket Club President, Nicola Kille, the club’s advisor and President Grant Cornwell, who threw the opening pitch of the match on Saturday, to try and get people to show up so that record could be broken.

Khan, who has played cricket since he was a child in Karachi, Pakistan, was informed three days before the event that he needed to publicize the match in order to break the U.S. record for number of attendees.† He used his social networking skills and worked with the College’s publicity department to make it an overwhelming success, he said.

Quickly word spread throughout campus that this was happening and that support was needed.

Kahn was glad that the College, both its students and alumni recognized the cricket club like any other varsity team.† “I feel great, honored and happy because I have worked very hard over the last two years to take this cricket club to next level and increase its awareness on campus and popularity among students,” he said.

“This event is very representative of The College of Wooster,” Cornwell told the American College Cricket Association. “It’s what makes us distinctive.

Not only does it illustrate the college’s spirit, but it also shows that we have a sense of humor. I think something like this could only happen here at Wooster.”

The team, made up of mostly international students and a few cricket enthusiasts from around the U.S., got to take the stage in front of large crowd who had, until now, only the basest knowledge of their sport.† The club has been more popular with international students in past years, but Kahn said he introduced several of his American friends, such as Ian Carlin ’11, to the sport who now play on the team.

He hopes that the recent widespread awareness for the sport and Wooster’s club team will increase its popularity across campus for players and fans.

The fans weren’t left in the dark during the match though, as handy cheat sheets were distributed throughout the audience, describing what a “bowler” is (kind of like a pitcher) and why he was trying to “dismiss” (kind of like a strike-out) the “bats-man” (self-explanatory).† Wooster’s cricket club dates back decades, but this is the first time they ever played on such a large stage, and they did not disappoint.

The game itself was very exciting, with Wooster’s club team pulling out the victory 143-141 on a last-second hit with one out remaining by Kahn, the cricket team’s captain.

Although it has been a lesser-known sport on Wooster’s campus, the club plays several well-known teams each year, including George Washington University, Carnegie Mellon University, The Ohio State University and participated in the USA College Cricket Championship in Florida last year.

Based on their performances at the Cricket Championship, Itai Njanji ’11 received first Team All-American Honors and Maaz was honored with second Team All American Honors.

Even with the cultural divide between the fans and the game going on, the Cricket team put on a show that is sure to last in the minds of the Wooster community and proved that fans don’t need football to make Homecoming memorable.

Additional Reporting for this article by Margaret Donnelly.