Information on Loughborough

Loughborough student earns prestigious cricket call-up

Posted on 02/04/2008
J. Milton

landfill siteLoughborough student Arun Harinath has been named in a Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) side to face champion county Sussex at Lords next week.

The 21-year-old, who also plays for Surrey, will join a senior team chosen in association with the England selectors and featuring a host of cricketers pushing for a place in the full England Test side in the season-opener which takes place from 10-13 April.

Currently in his second year of a social psychology course, Harinath is part of the Loughborough University Centre of Cricket Excellence (UCCE) which is funded by MCC and is part of a national initiative that aims to support talented cricketers in higher education. More than 30 players train and study at Loughborough’s mixed UCCE, which is the biggest and most successful university programme in the country.

Harinath scored 57 in his first-class debut against Somerset last season as part of Loughborough’s UCCE side. He went on to score 69 against Worcestershire then an impressive 118 against Leeds / Bradford UCCE during the MCC Universities Championship.

MCC Head of Cricket John Stephenson, who played this opening fixture in 2005 and 2006, believes the match will be an important step for Harinath in his cricket development.

“This match is a great opportunity for Arun to show his talent and by association highlight the depth of skill to be found in the MCC Universities,” he said. “He’ll learn a great deal from playing with the senior players, and will hope to use it as a springboard for success.

“This happened last year when an outstanding performance from Adil Rashid was the catalyst for a very good season, culminating in him being voted the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Cricketer of the Year.”

Loughborough’s Harinath is the fourth successive MCC Universities cricketer to feature in this fixture, an annual event that marks the start of the domestic cricket season.