Sole team from University of North Texas win SPL 3.0

Students from three neighbouring American universities participated in the third edition of the Sooner Premier League (SPL), a cricket tournament held at the University of Oklahoma's Kraettli and Traditions West Apartment storm shelters from January 19-20.

The competition featured forty-eight students and community members from the universities – the University of Oklahoma (OU), Oklahoma State University (OSU), and the University of North Texas (UNT) – divided into six teams: Norman Gladiators, Tornado Titans, Blazing Boomers, Sooner Rangers from OU, Green Mean Warriors from UNT, and Oklahoma Cowboys from OSU.

In a thrilling final, Green Mean Warriors defeated Tornado Titans by two runs. Warriors all-rounder Mehdi Hasan Rimon was declared player of the match and the best batter, while OU architecture graduate student Salma Akhter's eldest son and Irving Middle School student Samin Yasar took home the best bowler award for grabbing a record 10 wickets at the tournament.

Photo: SPL

The Bangladeshi student community at the University of Oklahoma founded the SPL in Fall 2023 and has been hosting it on OU grounds ever since.

SPL 3.0 organizer and Blazing Boomer captain Ahmed Shatil Alam, also a doctoral student at OU' Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, said, "We are very happy that two teams from our neighboring campuses joined us in this league of the SPL.

"We hope SPL will continue to grow in the coming years."

OU physics doctoral student and Tornado Titans skipper Imran Wazi hopes this tournament will help the development of cricket, the second most popular game in the world, in OU as well as campuses across the Midwest of USA.