2003 End of Season Report

OXFORD UCCE v SOMERSET II, 10/04/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: Friendly. 50 overs per side

Result: Oxford UCCE won by 7 wkts

OXFORD UCCE v MIDDLESEX, 12-14/04/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: 1st Class

Result: Match drawn

Playing against the 1st Class County he has represented at all levels of Youth Cricket, Omar Anwar fell agonisingly one run short of a century on his debut to 1st Class Cricket. Oxford performed well in this opening 1st Class fixture against a full strength Middlesex side.

OXFORD UCCE v ESSEX II, 17/04/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: Friendly. 50 overs per side

Result: Oxford UCCE won by 3 wkts

OXFORD UCCE v NORTHANTS II, 18/04/03

Venue: Marston
Fixture: Friendly. 50 overs per side

Result: Northants won by 4 wkts

OXFORD UCCE v WORCESTERSHIRE, 23-25/04/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: 1st Class

Result: Rain - match abandoned as a draw.

Oxford again performed creditably against a full strength Worcestershire side. However, long delays due to rain during the 2nd and 3rd days prevented any further play after lunch on the 3rd day, and the match was abandoned. Will Howard top-scored with 72 off only 59 balls.

OXFORD UCCE v CARDIFF UCCE, 27/04/03

Venue: Marston
Fixture: BUSA Championship

Result: Oxford UCCE won by 8 wkts

OXFORD UCCE v DURHAM UCCE, 29-30/04/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: UCCE Championship

Result: Oxford UCCE won on 1st inns by 8wkts

In the opening UCCE fixture, Oxford dominated play from the start and were well satisfied with dismissing Durham for 143. A century from captain Joe Sayers contributed to Oxford's large first innings lead, but several lengthy stoppages for rain on Day 2 allowed only 42 overs to be bowled.

Oxford 17 points - Durham 1 point

OXFORD UNIVERSITY v OXFORDSHIRE, 02/05/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: Friendly

Result: Match rained off

SIR PAUL GETTY'S XI v OXFORD UNIVERSITY, 04/05/03

Venue: Wormsley
Fixture: Declaration

Result: Sir Paul Getty's XI won by 69 runs

Although Sir Paul Getty had died only two weeks previously, the match went ahead on the beautiful Wormsley ground within Sir Paul's estate. Having reduced the host side to 133-7 at one stage (including the prize wicket of ex-England captain Mike Gatting for 15), a target of 204 proved too much for Oxford who were bowled out for a disappointing 134.

OXFORD UCCE v GLOUCESTERSHIRE II, 07/05/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: Friendly. 50 overs per side

Result: Oxford UCCE won by 13 runs

OXFORD UCCE v HAMPSHIRE, 09-11/05/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: 1st Class

Result: Match drawn

In their final match against 1st Class county opposition, Oxford battled impressively against Hampshire, with Joe Sayers scoring his second century of the season in the 1st innings, and Ed Cowan agonisingly one run short of his century in the 2nd innings. Oxford found it more difficult to remove the Hampshire batsmen and the match ended as a draw.

OXFORD UCCE v MCC YOUNG CRICKETERS, 13/05/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: Friendly. 50 overs per side

Result: MCC Young Cricketers won by 2 runs

(Overs reduced, rain.)

OXFORD UCCE v LOUGHBOROUGH UCCE, 15-16/05/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: UCCE Championship

No result: No play 2nd day, rain.

The eagerly awaited contest between last season's top two UCCE sides proved inconclusive as persistent rain prevented any play on the second day.

Oxford 5 points - Loughborough 6 points

BRISTOL UNIVERSITY v OXFORD UCCE, 18/05/03

Venue: Bristol
Fixture: BUSA Championship

Result: Match rained off - ground waterlogged.

BRADFORD/LEEDS UCCE v OXFORD UCCE, 21-22/05/03

Venue: Bradford- Park Avenue
Fixture: UCCE Championship

No result: No play 2nd day, rain.

Once again rain prevented any further play after 67 overs on Day1 in the latest UCCE Championship against Bradford/Leeds, the weakest team in the competition. Bradford/Leeds were dismissed for a meagre 134 by 3.00pm. Oxford only managed to bat for 7 overs before the rains came.

Oxford 7 points - Bradford/Leeds 3 points

OXFORD UCCE v EXETER UNIVERSITY, 25/05/03

Venue: Marston
Fixture: BUSA Championship

Result: Oxford UCCE won by 4 wkts

READING UNIVERSITY v OXFORD UCCE, 26/05/03

Venue: Reading
Fixture: BUSA Championship

Result: Oxford UCCE won by 7wkts

OXFORD UNIVERSITY v HARLEQUINS, 29/05/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: Friendly. 50 overs per side

Result: Oxford University won by 66 runs

ST.MARY'S TEDDINGTON v OXFORD UCCE, 01/06/03

Venue: Teddington
Fixture: BUSA Championship

No result: Match abandoned, rain.

OXFORD UCCE v MIDLANDS CLUB CRICKET CONFERENCE, 04/06/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: Friendly. 45 overs per side

Result: Oxford UCCE won by 49 runs

DUKE OF NORFOLK'S XI v OXFORD UNIVERSITY, 05/06/03

Venue: Arundel Castle
Fixture: Declaration

Result: Oxford University won by 7 wkts

Played against the backdrop of Arundel Castle, the Blues won this annual encounter with only five minutes of playing time remaining. Chasing the hosts' 221-6 dec in 56 overs, victory was achieved inside 43 overs, set up by an impressive opening partnership between Greg Adams (this year's Authentics captain) and Steve Hawinkels (his first knock of the season).

CAMBRIDGE UCCE v OXFORD UCCE 07-08/06/03

Venue: Fenners
Fixture: UCCE Championship

Result: Oxford UCCE won on 1st inns by 10 runs

In a hard-fought encounter, Oxford achieved a win on 1st innings by a narrow 10 run margin. The unlikely batting hero in Oxford's 1st innings was Tom Mees, who top scored and added 81 with Paul McMahon after 7 wickets had fallen for 96. Oxford's 188 did not look enough when Cambridge were 166-6 until Geraint Bowers polished off the tail. Lowe and Jones then plundered 109 runs in only 15 overs to secure an extra batting point.

Oxford 16 points - Cambridge 5 points

DURHAM UCCE v OXFORD UCCE, 09/06/03

Venue: Sheffield
Fixture: BUSA Championship Semi-Final

Result: Durham UCCE won by 3 wkts

For the third year running, Oxford failed to get past the Semi-Final of the BUSA Championship. Oxford posted a modest score of 197-8 in their 50 overs, but when Durham slumped to 114-7, victory seemed to be on the cards. However, the Durham 8th wicket pair remained undefeated, and edged their side to an unlikely win.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY v COMBINED SERVICES 11-13/06/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: Friendly. Declaration

Result: Match drawn

This match signalled the return of last season's Blues (Butcher, Evans, Floyd, J.Dalrymple and Millar) after completing their Finals, and ready for much-needed match practice. All of them performed well with bat or ball in their quest for a place in this year's Varsity match side.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY v MCC, 18-20/06/03

Venue: The Parks
Fixture: Friendly. Declaration

Result: Match drawn

In the final outing before taking on Cambridge in the Varsity Match at Fenners, Oxford were close to defeating a strong MCC side, led by Chimnmay Gupte, a former University captain.

CARDIFF UCCE v OXFORD UCCE, 21-22/06/03

Venue: Pontypridd
Fixture: UCCE Championship

Result: Oxford UCCE won on 1st inns by 171 runs

As rain had prevented Oxford from gaining many more points in three previous matches, Oxford needed at least a win on 1st innings over Cardiff in their final UCCE Championship match to claim a place at this year's Final at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Thanks to some enterprising batting from Cowan, Jones and J. Dalrymple, Oxford totalled 379 in only 85 overs. Despite dogged resistance from the Cardiff openers who were not parted until the 23rd over, wickets then fell regularly and they were dismissed for 208 - 3/4 hour before it rained heavily.

Oxford 18 points - Cardiff 6 points

LOUGHBOROUGH UCCE v OXFORD UCCE

Venue: Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Fixture: UCCE Championship Final

Result: Match Abandoned

The one-day final of the UCCE Championship was abandoned without a ball being bowled, due to heavy rain that left parts of the outfield waterlogged.

Both teams agreed to share the trophy rather than take part in a bowl-out.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY v OXFORD UNIVERSITY, 26-29/06/03

Venue: Fenners
Fixture: 4 day Varsity Match

Result: Oxford University won by an innings and 71 runs

Needing only three of the allotted four days, Oxford recorded the biggest Varsity Match victory margin for many years. Oxford elected to bat on winning the toss, with the first four batsmen (Joe Sayers, Steve Hawinkels, Jamie Dalrymple and Neil Millar) putting the Cambridge attack to the sword, at one point being on 414-2 in just 98 overs. Oxford declared just before lunch on the 2nd Day, and then proceeded to dismiss Cambridge twice in the space of 1 1/2 days, thanks to the stranglehold imposed by Oxford's three spinners (Jamie Dalrymple, Paul McMahon and Mike Munday), who took 19 of the 20 Cambridge Wickets to fall.

During the match;

• Oxford's 522-7 dec was the highest score in a Varsity Match.
• The partnership of 263 between Jamie Dalrymple and Neil Millar was a record for Oxford's 3rd wicket in a Varsity Match.
• Regrettably, captain Jamie Dalrymple, who was 236 not out when he declared the Oxford innings, was unaware that he was only three runs short of an Oxford individual record for the Varsity Match - 238 not out by the Nawab of Pataudi Snr in 1931.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY v OXFORD UNIVERSITY

Venue: Lords
Fixture: 1 Day Varsity Match

Result: Oxford University won by 73 runs - Duckworth/Lewis

Oxford retained the C.B Fry Trophy with a comprehensive win over Cambridge at Lords. Cambridge were invited to bat and totalled a modest 190 from their allotted overs. This time it was the gentle medium pace of Neil Millar that did the damage. Jamie Dalrymple again despatched the Cambridge bowling to all parts of the ground before rain brought a halt to proceedings, with Oxford needing only another 29 runs from 18 overs and nine wickets standing.

It had been decided before the match started to apply the Duckworth/Lewis system in the event of rain. As there was no further play, it was calculated that Oxford had won by 73 runs. What a pity it had to rain! A 9 wickets victory would have sounded much better!