Blues Bowled Over
Oxford started the cricket season terribly as both the Blues and the Tics lost this weekend.
Under clear skies, in beautiful sunshine, the Authentics kicked off their BUSA campaign against Anglia Polytechnic, the Cambridge equivalent of Brookes.
APU won the toss and elected to bat and certainly made full use of their innings, amassing a huge total of 320 thanks largely to a phenomenal knock of 165 by opener Ali Powar.
Oxford were made to toil in the field, chasing leather to all parts of Marston's large outfield. They didn't help their cause through some lacklustre bowling on a pitch that didn't offer much assistance, other than the fact that it was low and slow.
The Tics looked flat in the field and gave away at least 30 runs unneccesarily, as APU took advantage of their sloppy and lazy actions in the field.
The bowlers failed to get the ball into the right places often enough, and there were far too many loose deliveries. Hudson lacked rhythm and bowled too many lose deliveries, the seamers offered too much width and the batsmen decided to go after Gammell.
None of the bowlers were consistent with their line and length and the APU batsman took full advantage of this through some clean hitting, with a high percentage of scoring shots reaching the boundary.
They did have their fair share of luck however, and Powar's innings, as good an effort as it was, should have been ended on numerous occasions, but Oxford's sloppiness in the field meant they were unable to hold onto chances nor capitalise on half chances with run outs.
The one highlight for Oxford in the field was Dan Fox, who was always alert and committed to the cause by diving around and making some fantastic boundary stops. APU's innings were built on two core batsmen - Powar and Russel - and it was always going to take a mammoth effort by the Tics to overhall the visitors' total.
They started solidly enough, looking decent in the opening ten overs and going along at a reasonable rate. However some good bowling by APU opener Watson, and some debatable umpiring decisions, meant that Oxford were rocked in the middle order.
Parker-Jones was bowled fairly early on, Patel was trapped on the crease and given LBW first ball, and Gilbert got a screaming yorker first up.
Some rebuilding work was done by Fox and Stearn, who both batted well but were still unable to score quickly enough and eventually the escalating run rate took its toll, meaning they both went after making starts.
New Captain Charlie Gammell batted superbly and showed real grit and determination to score 46, and he was ably supported by wicket keeper Brogan, who scored 44 runs in his own unique style. It was not enough however, as despite this rear guard effort, the poor performance in the field had left the Tics facing too much of an uphill task.
The loss of early wickets meant that Gammell and Brogan's efforts were in vain as the tail was cleaned up and the Tics were bowled out inside their 50 overs for 172.
They must now regroup before their next BUSA game against Worcester University. There is hope, however, as they were in a similar position last year but managed to come back strong and very nearly made the semi-finals of the BUSA knock-out, a great achievement considering all other teams in the competition are University 1st XIs.
With a little more desire and fitness they will no doubt improve and should win many games this season, starting with games against Worcester and the MCC this week.
29th Apr 2004