The OUCC men enjoyed another dominant season in 2019!
The Blues saw hard training throughout the winter translate into strong T20 performances at the start of the season, beating all 3 Armed Forces sides despite some early season struggles with the weather. The T20 varsity match at Fenner’s was an extremely tight contest, with OUCC losing off the last ball of the game.
However, the next two varsity matches saw two comprehensive Oxford victories. In the 50 over game, Matt Fanning and Freddie Foster dragged Oxford up to 227 batting first, putting on 53 for the last wicket, before they each took 3 wickets as Cambridge were bowled out for 171. In the four-day match, George Hargrave’s 146 meant Oxford posted 296 in reply to Cambridge’s 228 batting first. Toby Pettman then took 5-16 in the second innings, as Cambridge were bowled out for 157, leaving Oxford only 90 runs to win. The Blues only required 14 overs to knock these off, with captain Alex Rackow fittingly hitting the winning runs, as Oxford won with a day to spare, the first time we have beaten Cambridge at Fenners for 6 years.
The Tics fared even better against Cambridge, defeating the Crusaders in all 3 varsity matches for the first time since the T20 fixture was introduced. Particularly satisfying were the innings and 38 run win over the Crusaders at the Parks in the 3-day game in early July, and a tense T20 victory at Fenner’s. Elsewhere, the Tics performed strongly in BUCS, finishing third in a six-team league, succumbing only to Leicester and Nottingham Trent 1stXIs in difficult away fixtures. Other highlights included a crushing win over the Cryptics, a hard-fought win over the Free Foresters and a tense draw against the MCC at the Parks.
With 30 players retained this year from last season’s squad, there is much cause for optimism in 2020!
