On Saturday 30th January, UWMCC embarked upon their second instalment of BUCS Indoors this year at Edgbaston. Our first match, against Aston University, started positively as we won the toss and chose to bat. Rooty came to the crease relatively early and managed to construct a quick-fire match winning innings, including 4 boundaries, retiring on 25 and setting a good base on which we could build. Runs were added by a late partnership from Dan and Ryan, scoring 20 and 22 respectively. Our top scorer being Aston’s extras (26) led to Warwick posting a competitive 114 in their 10 overs.
In response UWMCC stayed persistent as the Aston openers started to construct a good partnership, which eventually ended due to a retirement. This allowed us to cheaply bowl out the rest of the Aston line-up for a combined total of just 27. A return to the crease for the threatening opening batsman who batted very well as last man standing meant that we were suddenly staring down the barrel of losing a game we had dominated throughout, with just 9 runs required off 1.3 overs. However, up stepped debutant Kit Winder with a rising delivery that he nicked behind, triggering jubilant celebrations from the UWMCC boys. All our bowlers showed good consistency in the game, Kit being the pick of them, finishing with figures of 3-31.
The 2 hour break between our game against Aston and Leicester turned out to be rather eventful. Worcester 2s star man ‘Woodsy’ was at the centre of an investigation after being attacked by an Aston fielder who decided he would rather throw the ball at Woodsy then try and run him out by hitting the stumps. I’m not sure he was too keen on Woodsy’s dramatic appeal that took place earlier in that match involving Woodsy falling to his knees in despair.
After Woodsy and the rogue fielder had shaken hands and resolved their differences, UWMCC took to the pitch to face Leicester 1s. Again Goodyear won the toss and chose to bat, UWMCC got off to a superb start, reaching 60 within the first 4 overs. Both Bex (28) and Teds (34) retired in quick time, scoring freely and running the Leicester fielders ragged; a real masterclass in indoor batting. Our middle order failed to follow on as prolifically with the exception of Goodyear who smashed 35*, despite taking 5 balls to even manage to hit one of the side walls and register a single run. We managed to reach an impressive 128 in our 10 overs and looked favourites at the halfway point.
In response the Leicester batsmen found it hard to keep up with the rate from the start and this led to UWMCC preventing any partnerships developing by taking regular wickets at crucial times. This, along with a very disciplined fielding display, highlighted by Teds’ smart direct-hit run out and Ryan’s stunning one handed catch (which turned a shot from a dangerous looking lower-order Leicester batsman from a seemingly guaranteed 6 into a wicket) helped put the game out of reach as they were eventually were bowled out for 99.
Overall this was a very successful outing for UWMCC, winning both of our matches against two good sides, with contributions from every member of the team. It was particularly pleasing to see how the team learnt and were quick to improve in the second game. It also means that the team go in to the final round of fixtures in February with a realistic chance of progressing to the next round of the competition. A big thanks to Charlie Turner as well for being our scorer for the day – much appreciated!