Oxford have named their side to face the Unicorns on Sunday. With the CB40 outfit bringing a strong side for the preseaon opener against us, we are all looking forward to a great game of cricket!
This is the first outing for the MCCU and a good opportunity for both sides to see how they have wintered. Head Coach Graham Charlesworth and Captain Ben Williams, who will also captain the Blues side this year, have handed debuts to four players (Paternott, John, Morris and Kemp) and they will be hoping to perform in the sunshine of The Parks! Charlie Walker returns from India having honed his skills at the Global Cricket School in Pune to bat at No.3 and hopefully show some much improved spin bowling, although we dont think the Parks will have quite as much turn in the pitch as the sub continent!
We have some very familiar faces in that of Agarwal, Stebbings, Pascoe and Conway who will be hoping to steady the ship, leading the way for this young side. The team have been training all week out in the middle of The Parks. The groundsman have worked hard to get the pitch ready in time for us and as a gesture of gratitude the squad took some weight of their workload by pitching in and repainting the railings and benches of The Parks this week, hopefully ready for bumper crowds over the coming weeks.
Next Tuesday and Wednesday the squad take on Gloucestershire CCC in their last pre seaon friendly before the Glamorgan CCC 3 day 1st Class fixture starting 31st March. It looks likely Oxford MCCU graduates Ed Young and Richard Coughtrie will turn out for Gloucestershire and we cant wait to welcome them back to The Parks
Teams:
Oxford MCCU
Sam Agarwal
Lloyd Paternott #
Charlie Walker
Ben Williams (c)
Ben Stebbings
Ben Jeffery
Freddie John # (wk)
Dan Pascoe
Charlie Morris #
Ben Kemp #
Dan Conway
Don Gordon
(# debutants)
Unicorns
Gavin Baker
Tom Brett
Steven Cheetham
Lewis Hill
Andy Kerr
Warren Lee
Tom New
Kevin O’Connell
Max Osborne
Craig Park
Keith Parsons
Michael Thornely
Vishal Tripathi
Daniel Wheeldon
Conditions: Oxford University Parks, Start 11am, 50 overs a side, red ball, white clothing
Umpires: I Royle, J Reed
Scorers: S Churchman, K O'Connell
