July 4, 2012, by ICCSR
NUBS Staff – Student Cricket
They’ve already marked our exams so let’s thrash the lecturers.
After many years of being thwarted by the weather and lack of players, the inaugural staff vs MSc students cricket match eventually took place yesterday. As you will see, the MSc students adhered to the noble traditions established by the undergrads and MBAs, namely “They’ve already marked our exams so let’s thrash the lecturers”.
The day got off to an inauspicious start for the staff when, having lost the toss and been asked to bat, their captain (yours truly) asked expectantly for a volunteer to open the batting with Tim Bailey. Much shuffling of feet and starting at shoes ensued, the troops having unfortunately seen the student bowlers warming up. Thankfully there was one plucky private willing to face the shrapnel and Vicky Story duly strode to the wicket. Although she accumulated more bruises than runs, Vicky did her job of seeing off the fearsome opening bowler, Tanmay. Alas, the middle order failed to capitalise, despite bright cameos from Ankur (our ringer), James Jarrett and Marek Korczynski. Luckily, Tim Bailey was steadily accumulating at the other end, finally finishing on 41 not out, whilst Jim Devlin crashed his way to 14 before being cruelly run out courtesy of a suicidal call by yours truly (oops – there goes my chance of promotion). With a few runs from Dave at the end, the Staff finished on 89 for 9 in our 20 overs. Respectable! Pick of the bowlers were Mohammad Ali (2 wickets for 10), Sharan (1 for 1), Rahul (1 for 4), Nitin and John (both 1 for 7).
Following tea & cakes on the outfield, the staff took to the field. Recruitment in the School over the past year had clearly focused on the REF (Really Excellent Fielding) with debutants such as Marek, James Jarrett and Brian Litchfield-Cant (was it really his first ever cricket match?) flying across the outfield, whilst Vicky, Steve Wilcoxson, Kass Hussein & Malay also made some fantastic stops. Unfortunately, our bowlers had also been focusing on the REF (Runs Ever Flowing) and the students quickly approached their target, held up only by wickets from Kass, Brian and James. All the students contributed, but special mention to Asif (11), Sharan (17), Shivam (11), Tanmay (15), Arvind (7), Sundeep (6) and Hussain who was unbeaten at the end.
So the Staff lost by 7 wickets, but there were signs of better things to come: Marek’s straight bat had sages on the boundary wondering whether his technique had been honed at Harrow or Magdalen College and scarcely has anyone turned the ball as much at Grove Farm as James did with his leg breaks. It may be 4 years since the staff last recorded a win, but MBA students should beware.
By Prof. Dave Paton (NUBS answer to Jonathan Agnew)
Photograph taken by Britanglishman and reproduced under creative commons CC BY 2.0 Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/britanglishman/4591053777/
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