The 50 Over Varsity Matches for OUCC are played down at the beautiful Arundel Castle Cricket Ground down on the South Downs Coast over the course of a weekend for the Women's Blues, Men's Blues and Men's Authentics.
On the Saturday, the Women's Blues kicked off the 3-day festival by losing the toss and fielding first with opening bowler Bea Jones taking two early wickets. In reply, the Cambridge captain Ciara Boaden led her side with 72 off 88 balls whilst the wickets around her fell until eventually bowled by Hannah Davis. Davis, who ended the innings with figures of 5-15, was supported by wickets from Sophie Goodman and Ella Gallagher in order to restrict the Tabs to 147 all out after 36 overs. In reply, Oxford opened the batting with Magdalen duo Hannah Sutton and Annys Thirwell-Jones but fell foul of persistent inswing from Rhydderch. However, the bulk of the runs were chased down by Hannah Dais with 51* (91) and fresher Chloe Thomas 40* (49) to secure a win with 13 overs to spare. The convincing win from the Women's Blues secured them the double Varsity win for this season for the first time in three years.
The Men's Blues match followed on the Sunday, with Oxford electing to bat. Scores in the mid-thirties from the top three left at 113-3 at 33 overs, but the batting side faltered with a middle overs collapse. Late innings runs from Carnegie and Hardwick helped the Dark Blues to a total of 205. After lunch, early wickets from Men's Blues captain Justin Clarke gave hope to the Oxford fielding attack but the Tabs persisted. In the end, Cambridge chased down the required target in 42 overs in order to seal their win over Oxford.
The final day of the three day Arundel festival was the Oxford Authentics versus the Cambridge Crusaders. Cambridge put the Tics in to bat - a tactic that seemed highly fruitful as the Tics collapsed to 33-7 after 13 overs. However, late order half centuries from Henry Kay and Christopher Sneddon steered the Tics to 167 all out after 49.2 overs. The Oxford Bowlers were led by William Marriage and Thomas Hilditch, stimulating a Tabs collapse to 40-5. The Crusers rallied in a similarly late order fashion to 118-7 with Happe 34* at the crease. A further 27-run 8th wicket partnership before Hilditch struck twice in one over. At the 43rd over, Tabs had only one wicket in hand and 23 runs to chase down. However, Happe 70* steered Cambridge to a win with a six.
Overall, despite the disappointing results from the men's section, the resounding win from the women and the lovely weather all three days made it a highly enjoyable weekend. Thank you very much to everyone at Arundel Castle Cricket Club who made the weekend possible and we look forward to next year!
