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On a glorious day for cricket a weakened 1st team had to defend their reputation against the challenge of a College Barbarians team lead by skipper Dan Taylor.
The fixture arose from a debate after a match report on our very own Yorker where Taylor claimed that the cricket club was failing to scout college talent and challenged the first team to a game with college players that have been missed by the university team.
This premise was a worthwhile and admirable one, however the Barbarians turned up with five players that have played university cricket including 2nd team strike bowler Rich Cox who would have been picked for the first team owing to injuries if he wasn't already selected for the Barbarians. This point aside, the 1st team, without key all rounders T. Hudson and J. Hiley and opening bolwer I. Smith, decided to bat first.
The Barbarians started well, reducing the 1sts to 18/2 off 7 overs with university 3rd team bowler Tom Tempest removing openers Murrils and Vanner, the earlier mistiming a pull shot to a ball that was so short it nearly clipped the toe of the bowler. Rupa continued his good form in college cricket this year with an accomplished 41 before holing out on the boundary well supported by a steady 26 by Townson.
The 1sts knew how to play on this wicket, slow and steady while the ball is hard, waiting for the launch in the final 15. Lewin departed quickly for 2 and Nick Hudson arrived at 71/4 and had 26 overs to try and replicate his blistering BUSA form.
After playing himself in Hudson performed a massacre of the Barbarian bowling, dispatching the ball to all parts of the ground, as if he was a sixth former who had joined in a primary school kwik cricket match. Unfortunately for the Barbarians they were not bowling with a wind ball as Hudson hit the ball hard, high and far smashing a devastating 94.
Emmerson made a quick fire 35 including a bludgeoning extra cover drive for 6 which nearly killed his girlfriend. The two put on 85 and some mooing from Martin and Remington pushed the 1sts onto 264/8 at the end of their 50 overs.
This was a hefty score for the Barbarians to chase but the 1sts knew that a lax performance could put their weakened bowling line up in trouble. Martin bowled with bounce and movement and quickly removed Lake in the first over.
Pressure was maintained by the opening bowlers which forced a run out of Smith and an easy chance off Martin as Whyatt slashed outside the off stump only to be put down by the earlier heroic Hudson. Emmerson was brought into the attack and ripped into the middle order after Whyatt was embarrassingly run out for standing outside of his crease.
Taylor offered good resistance at 3 scoring an accomplished 29 but fell foul to the guile of Lewin as he drove to short cover. After the departure of Taylor the demise of the Barbarians was inevitable as Emmerson finished with 4-10 and Lewin with 3-8 bowling the opposition out for just 69.
The 195 run win by the 1st team was an accomplished performance, especially as they were missing key players. It is a shame that other talented college players, such as those from Wentworth, were not included in the Barbarians team which resembled more of a Derwent select eleven rather than its original intention.
The performances of note from the 1sts opposition were from those already in the university set up and the 1st team defeated them without the help of T. Hudson (not available) and N. Vanner (who made 10) displaying that they are far from a two man team. However the day was a resounding success as the players enjoyed a fine game of cricket played in perfect spirit, with many fans turning up to support. Hopefully the game will be repeated next year with the Barbarians being exactly that and not half full of university players.
Who were the 5 University players that played for the Barbarians?
Team:
Chris Scott- NO
Ben Lake- NO
Dan Taylor- NO
Sam Cull- NO
Whyatt- NOT THIS YEAR
Grant- NO
Guest- NO
Cox- YES
Hale- NO
Horan- NO
Tempest- YES
I count 2 University players, one being a quality bowler (Tempest) that cannot get in the 2's for some reason. Incidentally, Gul from Wentworth was contacted about playing but was unable to make it until 5 that evening (see email thread at bottom of post). Not being able to write a balanced article is one thing. Not being able to count is quite another. Sort it out.
Right mate,
fancy a game tomorrow? 12 at the 22 acres, cricket whites, 50-50
Dan. You are representing wentworth!! x Gul Muhammad Khan
June 7 at 9:15am
Hi Dan,
Thanks for you email and consideration, but i am afraid i wont be around tommorow before 5.00pm, so i m going to miss it, I loved to play but i dont think i can make it.
I hope you will find someone more suitable......
Cheers
Gul
Furthermore, I would argue that all of that team are more capable individuals than some who play not necessarily in the 1's but in the 2's and 3's and thus the point of this fixture has to some degree proved a point.
Point proved as always.
Dan, the side you put out against us might just about be able to give the Uni 3's a game but you would get spanked by the 2's! The game that we played was completely pointless and quite frankly I was bored of it after 10 minutes. If we had bowled first the game would have lasted no more that a couple of hours. The only point that you have proved is that you have not got a clue about the standard of cricket at this university!
People that have represented the university equal:
1)Tom Tempest 3rds this year
2)Rich Cox 2nd Team
3)Andrew Whyatt played for the 2s this year and university the last 2 years
4)Ben Lake: played 2s last year and was selected this year but declared unavailable
5) Ben Horan: Selected for 2s last year and played university cricket in his first year.
I concede the point of Wentworth but Gul is only the skipper and they have far more talented players. The point of this game was to bring players the university teams knew NOTHING about not fill it with players we already knew. I think Tom is a good bowler but a 3rds bowler (probably by his own admission, as he is a candidate for 3rd team captain next season!)
My article was balanced as shown by the above.
Sean Martin
I know Chris Scott played at least once for the university last year as well
That shut Dan up!
I notice the article said nothing about Taylor running out 2 of his batsman, including fresher star Rob Grant before he even faced a ball. Great captain, great cricket.
comment deleted by the author How many have played for the university this year? I want a balanced answer- not from Dan not from one of the biased cricket team members who just dont like him. I was under the impression the team was made up of people who were either not selected/disenchanted/ex players/not noticed. If someone could clear this up for me it would be greatly appreciated.
10 - just read sean's post again, it seems pretty clear and concise to me..
and 6 - yeh he did, and he did very well. I think University thirds and College is a very similar standard, but I'd be astonished if a barbarians side ever beat the university first team.
10: I assure you my earlier post is totally accurate and can be approved by the relevant university skippers and the score books which record their appearances. I would never discredit myself by writing an article that was not true as this is neither fair or very clever.
I think my previous comment hits the nail on the head!
The fact is though, that only two members of the Barbarians squad have played this year for the University teams, in answer to #10's point. That is what I based the criteria on- those having played this year.
Incidentally, I hard that Grant wan't infact out but that our very own square-leg umpire was not concentrating... Behind square is the non-strikers call too. From what I recall, Grant was the non-striker and it was behind square. Not to take anything away from the throw. It was a good bit of fielding.
Remi, I'm not sure what you're getting at regarding 'points' being made. The point of this fixture was not to prove a 'point'. It was to help imporove an already relatively positive link between college cricket and university teams. The fact that even Sean in this article (appears) optimistic about a follow-up fixture next year can only be good for the feeder system from college to uni cricket. This was no personal grudge match and I don't think you should see it that way. It was played it pretty good spirit.
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