An update from the 2012 MCCU and Blues Captain Ben Williams
OUCC Blues
Over the course of the winter we have been training hard, with additional sessions on a Monday and Friday scheduled in on top of last year’s programme. With the aim of giving the club a greater ‘club’ feel, rather than a distinct Blues and ‘Tics divide, we have been incorporating players from each squad in a mixture of training sessions. For example, a number of promising current ‘Tics seamers have been attending the Blues bowling session on a Monday afternoon, and just recently had the opportunity to work with John Lewis.
After a successful club social at Vincent’s Club in Michaelmas, and a number of socials this term, we are planning on hosting a club dinner in early Trinity. We have had a number of freshers join the ranks this year: of particular mention would be Owain Jones, all-rounder (Sussex 2nd XI) and Joe Davies, wicket-keeper (Lancashire Academy).
After last year’s 3-0 defeat in Varsity fixtures we have been focusing on our build-up to those same fixtures this year. For example, we have identified Cambridge’s strength in left-arm spin, and have therefore been practising against left-arm spin in training, developing specific game plans, individual to each player.
MCCU
Last year: after a successful start to the season, building on our fantastic work in Trinidad on tour, we petered out in the final month. A combination of Oxford exams and injuries resulted in, unfortunately, a disappointing end to the season. However, this year, we have some good plans in place to address last year’s issues.
We have recruited in the seam bowling department, with the best part of 8 strapping seam bowlers all fighting for a place in the starting 11. In the past we have been plagued by injuries to our seam bowlers towards the latter end of the MCCU season, however this year that will not be the case.
Our new strength and conditioning coach, Patrick Cane, who worked with us a bit last year, has been putting us through our paces this winter. His training regime has been focused on cricket-specific: working on explosive power, leg strength and endurance, and shoulder/hip flexibility and stability. Expect to see some fine athletes take to the Parks in later March.
We have once again been lucky enough to work with some outstanding outside coaches: John Lewis, Steve Kirby, Simon Willis, Gary Palmer, Rupert Evans and recently Cookie Patel. This has enabled a number of the boys to impress coaches in the position where they can most certainly facilitate a future in the game.
Some notable representative honours most go to Freddie Coleman who recently represented Scotland in a 4-dayer, and Henry Edwards who will be representing Scotland U19s over the coming month.
All in all we are well set for our opening fixture on 25th March versus the Unicorns, although we may need to go out and buy some hand warmers first.
