MCCU Weekly Review 12

28 June 2010

The final game of the MCCU season is being played today at Fenner’s as Cardiff take on Loughborough in the 50-overs per side BUCS final.

Last week saw two of the highlights of the MCCU calendar. On Tuesday and Wednesday the six centres were joined by teams from Exeter and Bristol Universites in the annual MCCU Twenty20 tournament. Durham County 2nd XI were the ninth team that competed at Loughborough over the two days.

The format was three groups of three teams playing a round robin on the first day to decide three of the semi-finalists. These three teams would be joined by the best second place team from the group stage. This best runner-up was determined by net run rate.

Group 1 played on the main pitch outside the National Cricket Performance Centre. Durham County won this group with two wins against Cardiff MCCU (seven wickets) and Durham MCCU (25 runs).

Alan Cope - 45 against Oxford in group 2
Group 2 played on the second pitch at Loughborough University. This group was won by Oxford MCCU as they beat Bristol and the home side. The game between Oxford and Loughborough was a particularly exciting and close one. Oxford set Loughborough 178 to win and Loughborough were looking comfortable needing eight runs off two overs. The Loughborough batsmen contrived to score just five thus losing the game by three runs. The impressive Ed Young took four for 21 for Oxford, whilst Loughborough captain Alan Cope made 45.

The final group was played at Carillon Cricket Club in Loughborough town itself. This was a beautiful little ground although the trip to it through a scrap yard did confuse a few of the players on the first morning! The ground was bordered on three sides by a small stream and some dense woodland, this made the first five overs of the day quite expensive for MCC as seven new cricket balls were lost by Leeds in their game against Exeter University.
Ross Whiteley - losing balls for fun!
After the initial scramble for balls things settled down as Cambridge won the group by beating Leeds by ten runs and Exeter by five wickets.

The group placings were as follows:

Group 1
1.) Durham CCC 2nd XI
2.) Durham MCCU
3.) Cardiff MCCU

Group 2
1.) Oxford MCCU
2.) Loughborough MCCU
3.) Bristol University

Group 3
1.) Cambridge MCCU
2.) Leeds MCCU* (qualified for the semi-finals as best runner up)
3.) Exeter University

In the first semi-final on day two Durham County 2nd XI outclassed Cambridge whilst Leeds won a tied game by virtue of the fact they lost fewer wickets.

The final was therefore between Leeds MCCU and Durham County 2nd XI. Leeds captain Richard Browning continued his good form with the coin as he decided to bat. Leeds started well, by going at ten runs an over for the first seven overs. However the introduction of John Malkin led to a fall of wickets for the MCCU. They were dismissed for 131 in the 19th over. This total was never going to be enough and the county scored the required runs in 14.2 overs for the loss of one wicket.

On Friday the MCCU Challenge final was played at Lord’s between Durham and Loughborough. This was a repeat of the 5th place play off at the Twenty20 which Loughborough won.

On a gorgeous day at Lord’s the Durham captain Tom Westley won the toss and elected to bat. Things didn’t start to well for Durham as Luc Durandt was caught at second slip off the bowling of Peter Groves. This brought Leicestershire’s Greg Smith to the crease. Smith along with Seren Waters put on 193 for the second wicket. Smith was eventually bowled by Groves for 97 whilst Waters continued to score a magnificent hundred. Jamie Atkinson blasted 24 off 11 balls to take Durham’s score up to 328. Peter Groves was the pick of the Loughborough bowlers with three for 60 with his skiddy right armers.

The reply started badly for Loughborough as Harvey Gandam was dismissed for one. A stand of 55 ensued between Alex Welsh and David Murphy. When Welsh was bowled for 23 by left arm spinner Dan Gale the score was 58 for two. Wickets then fell steadily for Loughborough. The impressive Dan Gale took five wickets for 22 runs.

Peter Groves - Threw the bat at the end of the MCCU Challenge Final
Loughborough reached 101 for the loss of nine wickets, before Loughborough’s last man Groves decided to have a bit of fun. Groves smashed 50 from 31 balls, this included five sixes, some of which landed in the top tier of the Tavern stand. Groves was eventually bowled for 50, giving Durham the comprehensive winning margin of 159 runs.

Dan Gale was named as man of the match.

Even though the inter-MCCU cricket has all but finished now, there is still cricket to be played by the students as the best non-contracted MCCU players embark on their second season representing the MCCU combined team in the second XI championship.

The first fixture is against Sussex at Horsham CC starting on Wednesday this week. The side which is to be coached by Clive Radley plays nine three-day fixtures through July and August. MCC Universities Combined Team 2010

The team for the first game is as follows:
Jak Martin (Oxford), Captain
Rory Burns (Cardiff), Wicket-keeper
Luc Durandt (Durham)
Daniel Bendon (Cardiff)
Ed Young (Oxford)
Rick Moore (Leeds)
Stephen Gray (Cambridge)
Rob Taylor (Loughborough)
Adam Wilson (Leeds)
Pete Turnbull (Cambridge)
Dan Conway (Oxford)
Tom Craddock (Leeds)

MCC staff.