Men's Blues vs Oxford UCCE 11/04/25 - Match Report

Blues vs Oxford UCCE (11/04)

Blues 298/7 – Narayan (78)

UCCE 114 ao – Choudhary (5-12)

On Friday, The Parks played host to the opening of the OUCC 2025 season, with a 50 over fixture against the Oxford UCCE.

Under the warm April sun, it was the Blues who opted to set a total on a potentially challenging used deck, and the partnership of Amogh Karpe and Dhruv Talati strode out to the crease looking to build a solid platform. With some composed and patient shot selection, the pair had reached 73 by the time Talati (36) fell in the 13^th over. Karpe (48) would progress to just shy of his first milestone with some superb straight drives, and was supported by Vivek Narayan at 3, who then set about calmly deconstructing the UCCE attack, capitalising on loose deliveries early on, before cutting loose to take the game to the spinners. He displayed excellent movement around the crease, coming down to meet the ball and play over the top, or hanging back to play a delightful reverse paddle sweep down into the vacant third man region for a boundary.  

At the midway point of the innings, after a brief cameo from Saqlain Choudhary (12), the Blues sat at 150/3, with Narayan and Toby Brown eager to push the score on. An 83 run partnership came to an end as Narayan (78) found a man in the deep, bringing to an end an exhibition of composed but proactive scoring. With 10 overs left, Brown would look to be the rock around whom the next men in could attack the bowlers, although this didn’t end well for Tom Douglas (6), who called through a run only to find that Brown remained statue-like at the non-strikers end. The UCCE sensed an opportunity to regain some momentum, but Brown (38) and skipper Justin Clarke (30*) would reinject the positive scoring, ably supported by debutant Nathan Schofield (9*) in the last couple of overs. As the crowds continued to build around the Parks, the Blues were applauded on their return to the pavilion, having reached a strong score of 298/7, pleased with reaching their targets throughout the innings, and having made use of their full allotment of overs.

Having taken the opportunity to reset, the squad were led out by Clarke confident of the runs in the bank, but also conscious that victory would only be secured through a strong display in the field. And it didn’t take long for that strong display to bear fruit, as Chris Carnegie found Ayush Patel’s (0) outside edge within the first over. Carnegie (1-17) and Clarke would instantly pile the pressure on the UCCE batters, Clarke (1-19) rapping the pads of Gallman-Findley (1) in the 4^th over. Although the seamers didn’t extract any further wickets, the shook up the top order and created early scoreboard pressure, especially thanks to Carnegie’s excellent control that had the naturally aggressive UCCE batters caught in two minds, unable to score over 3 an over against the tall left-armer.

In the 9^th over, the ball was tossed to Chris Mingard with the chance to lead the spin attack, and with his second delivery he found his way through Geddes (11) defence, and he would follow this up with a maiden in his second over, keeping the batters firmly under his control. After the 17^th over, with the UCCE innings hanging in the balance at 77/3, Mingard (1-11) gave way to Choudhary. It took the off-spinner three balls to remove the leader of the batting resistance, opener Zaid Faleel (36). This proved the turning point, as Choudhary, supported by Narayan’s economical spell (0-10), would produce several special deliveries to take the first OUCC 5fer of the season, all within the space of 4 overs and only for the cost of 12 runs. Choudhary raised the ball toward the pavilion one over shy of drinks, which the UCCE scraped to at 100/8, having been 82-3 only 8 overs prior. Tight fielding, drilled on cold Saturday mornings outside at Iffley Road through the winter months, left the batters at the mercy of the bowling attack. It took just over 4 overs for Douglas (1-5) and Schofield (1-9) to clean up the innings, and as the afternoon turned to evening, the Blues celebrated a 184-run victory over their city rivals.

The team were especially proud of their application in all areas of the game, and the contributions from every member of the matchday squad, setting up the season ahead nicely. Skipper Clarke was proud of the focus displayed, and encouraged the team to carry this momentum into the coming weeks.

The competitive season gets under way on the 16^th April at the Racecourse Ground in Durham as the Blues look to carry this level of performance into the BUCS season, and in their preparation for the varsity matches. Stay tuned for reports throughout the season, with full scorecards available at - https://oucc.play-cricket.com/Matches.