The Oxford University Cricket Club’s Varsity campaign got off to a wet start on Friday, as the men’s Twenty20 fixture was abandoned without a ball being bowled. Earlier in the day, the women secured a comprehensive victory against Cambridge, ensuring their dominant run of four straight Twenty20 victories.
The Oxford women’s team put in a dominant performance with both bat and ball to claim victory as the rain held off. Following a strong opening partnership of 28 by the Cambridge openers, good middle overs bowling and sharp catching saw Oxford restrict the Cambridge side to 77 from their 20 overs. Wickets were shared around the six bowlers used by Oxford, but the figures of captain Tina Gough (1-8 off 4 overs) and Ridhi Kashyap (2-10 off 4 overs) were particularly impressive. Oxford chase was comprehensive with a range of clean hit- ting and clever batting seeing the team chase the target in the thirteenth over. Eleanor Bath batted through the innings with a well-made 29 to see the team to victory, whilst an aggressive innings by wicket-keeper Lucy Stuchfield (31 off 24 balls) was instrumental in the team’s victory. This win marks the fourth successive Twenty20 victory for the women and they will be hoping to continue their good form when they face Cambridge again on June 20 at the Lords Nursery Ground.
Disappointingly for the players, the fans that had come out to watch, and the sponsors in attendance at the men’s, the match was not able to begin. Following a lunch reception for the players and guests, which included former England players and Oxford and Cambridge Blues Vic Marks and Michael Atherton, the rain continued to drizzle. Hopes were raised by news of a 4.30 pitch inspection, resulting in the players from both sides leaving the shelter offered by their changing rooms to partake in some preliminary warm-ups. The sites of Cambridge kicking around a football and the Oxford players throwing a vortex on the field of play, accompanied by the music that had been played throughout the day, appeared encouraging for the fans that had sought refuge and beverages in the Rose and Crown pub and sponsors’ tents. They would, however, be left disappointed as the 4.30pm inspection came to the conclusion that was feared by all in attendance. Concerns about the state of the bowler’s run-ups from both the ECB appointed umpires and the ground staff led to captains Gus Kennedy and Tom Elliott agreeing that the match would have to be abandoned. News filtered around the players and fans that had attended, a disappointing way to end an event that had a lot of effort put into it by many people.
The men’s attention will now turn to the 50-over and four-day varieties of the game, in preparation for the Varsity fixtures later in the summer. The 50-over match will be held at Lord’s Cricket Ground on Friday 20 May, while the First Class four-day fixture will be held at the Parks from 30 June – 3 July. The Blues still have much cricket in the coming weeks despite examination season being well and truly un- derway. The team travel to Cardiff this coming Wednesday for their last game of the BUCS season against Cardiff Metropolitan University. Oxford University’s BUCS campaign has been somewhat mixed, with disappointing losses to Bristol and Bath while securing dominant victories against Southampton and Surrey. The BUCS season has however provided an opportunity for many to get Blues cricketing experi- ence in the lead up to the varsity matches later this summer. Last week, first year undergraduate Richard O’Grady took the opportunity to bat at the top of the innings scoring a dominant 131 not out, guiding Oxford to victory against Surrey University. O’Grady dominated the Surrey attack despite battling cramps throughout his innings, hitting particularly strongly down the ground. Supported well by Sam Cato (41*) the duo ensured Oxford reached their target with ten overs remaining. Such individual performances are likely to be remembered when varsity selection comes around.
Red ball cricket will now be the focus of the Blues, with the Parks hosting five fixtures prior to the four-day game which is set to round off the summer.
Next week sees the Marylebone Cricket Club visit the Blues for a three day fixture, 2-4 June. The fixture should provide good preparations for the Varsity match offering, for many, the first chance of the summer to play some longer format cricket.
