Balliol captain slams New/St Hilda’s combined cricket team

With Trinity term round the corner, colleges around Oxford are now all preparing for this year’s cricket cuppers competition. Following last year’s washed out cricket season, we are all hoping for a full season of cuppers, and not one decided by bowl-outs and coin tosses.

We are all expecting great things from last year’s big performers, St Hilda’s/New, St John’s and Queens. But as we all know surprises can happen at any stage in a knockout competition, and any team on their day can make it to the Parks for the final.

This year the competition culminates in 6th week, with all participating teams hoping to reach the final stage in the Parks.

Additionally, due to the new sponsorship deal with Xchanging, there will be a ”player of the round” award for the best performance of each round. This extra incentive for players should see some special performances and give us an exciting cuppers competition this Trinity, provided that the temperamental Oxford weather is on our side.

After having suffered defeat in last year’s cuppers final, Balliol are intent on making amends in 2013.

The war of words has already begun, with Alex Hawkins-Hooker, captain of Cuppers’ runners-up Balliol, lamenting what he sees as the ‘ridiculously unfair talent-sharing operation’ of current champions New-St. Hilda’s, ‘despite St Hilda’s being fully mixed and fully capable of wielding a bat by themselves these days.’

Nevertheless, Hooker is full of confidence going into the new season, predicting that ‘following a couple of successful pre-season tours to the Iffley Road nets [Balliol] will be winning both the League and Cuppers titles this season.’

If we can have as much confidence in the weather as Hooker does in his team, then this season certainly looks to be one to savour.

PHOTO/St Hilda’s College