This Monday saw an upset-filled second round of cricket Cuppers, including the knockout of current holders New/St. Hilda’s. In a tournament usually disrupted by rain, all eight matches were played in sunshine.
One of the most intriguing encounters was between local rivals St Catz and Magdalen. St Catz’ captain, James Black, elected to seize a numerical advantage and batted first against the initial 9 men of Magdalen. With fielders scarce, openers Hirst and Brannan piled on the runs, both eventually making centuries. Overseas player Will Snell guided the innings home and took Catz to a very respectable 287-5 off their 35 overs.
With the Magdalen batting line-up being led out by Blues opening batsman James ‘Cube’ Hooper, Catz knew that early wickets would be crucial. Fortunately, Snell provided the breakthrough and dismissed him in his third over. A pivotal moment was the dismissal of Magdalen number 3 Henry Hughes to agricultural left-arm spinner James Black. After Black somehow picked up another couple of quick wickets, it was down to Alistair Sharp to provide the Magdalen rearguard. He made a fantastic century, but was eventually thwarted by Catz paceman James ‘Canford Cannon’ Taylor.
The eventual scoreline of 246-8 was sweetened somewhat by a fantastic exhibition of tail-end batting from Blues golfer David Ryan, whose straight six and unconventional ‘laid-off’ style of batting gave the Magdalen fans something to cheer about at the end of the game.
Another highlight from the second round was a close match between last year’s runners up Balliol and Pembroke. Pembroke won the toss and put Balliol into bat and gave the favorites a scare at the start. Balliol were 40-4 after a couple of loose shots and some questionable self-umpiring. But Gav Sourgen and Dan Beary were able to form a partnership and the former expecially turned the game around. He finished on 103 all out, having taken Balliol to 210-7.
The Pembroke openers had a little six over burst in which they threatened to take the game away from Balliol, but a couple of bowling changes brought quick wickets and from then on Balliol were always in control. Vikram Malik was the game changer, picking up three crucial top order wickets. Gav Sourgen completed a display of all round class with 4-24, as Pembroke were bowled out for a valiant 123.
In results elsewhere, St John’s beat last year’s winners New/St Hilda’s to set up a quarter final tie with LMH. Balliol will play Brasenose after they beat Wadham. The final quarter fi- nal will take place between Christ Church and Trinity, setting up a com- pelling last eight round of matches.
