Staff Varsity finished with a t20 cricket match hosted at Polo Farm, the initial date being rescheduled due to the ever predictable English weather. UKC won the toss and elected to bat. Polo farm being well known for being a good batting wicket.
UKC Batting Innings
Nat O’Connell and Tim Aistrope strolled out to open the batting for UKC. After a quiet opening two over Nat fell, cutting a wide ball straight to point. David Smith arrived at the crease and immediately got his account up and running with a series of boundaries. David and Tim laid a strong foundation by putting a partnership of 63 to leave UKC in a strong position at the halfway stage at 75 for 1 after 10 overs.
CCCU fought back well with some tight bowling and good fielding as David and Tim fell in the same over for 30 and 23 respectively. This brought Abdullah Iqbal and Matthew Bolton to the crease to rebuild. Abdullah batted all the way to the end of the innings, finishing on 19 not out. Matthew fell for a quick fire 6 runs, bringing Olly Rule to the crease. Olly hit a fast 8 runs to give the innings some impetus but some really tight bowling from CCCU managed to restrict UKC to 136-4 from their 20 overs.
CCCU Innings
UKC opened the bowling with some serious firepower with Jason Fraser and Alan Dargan bowling some good pace. It was Alan Dargan who took the first wicket in just his first over whilst Jason kept it tight at the other end. Zarak was brought into the attack and produced a sparkling spell of 2 overs, 3 wickets for just 7 runs to turn the game to UKC’s favour. Zarak bowled brilliant in tandem with Louisa Arnold who 2 overs also went for just 7 runs to leave CCCU reeling on 34-4 off 9 overs needing nearly 10 runs an over.
However, CCCU then responded with some big hits and a succession of boundaries to bring the scores tight, with all results still possible. Nat and Abdullah entered the attack and took a wicket each to stem the tide. However, some further late hitting from CCCU brought the game to the final over. CCCU needed 17 to win off the final over to be bowled by David Smith. Several boundaries brought the game really close by it was UKC who prevailed by 3 runs as CCCU finished on 133-9.
A fantastic game with some great cricket on show, but it was UKC who prevailed with a narrow victory.
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