A huge crowd is expected at Fenner’s on Friday afternoon when Cambridge take on Oxford in the Charles Russell Twenty20 Varsity Match.
A huge crowd is expected at Fenner’s on Friday afternoon when Cambridge take on Oxford in the Charles Russell Twenty20 Varsity Match.
Officials estimate that good weather may bring 1750-2000 spectators through the gates of the cricket ground in time for the 3pm start.
Cambridge will go into the game quietly confident. Last month, the MCC University side completed a fabulous 10-wicket win over Surrey CCC, with two notable performances. Zafar Ansari (Trinity Hall) took five wickets in the first innings, among them the memorable scalp of Kevin Pietersen; and Paul Best (Homerton), fresh from his Championship debut for Warwickshire, scored 150 in an innings that put the game well beyond the reach of the professionals.
Since then the Blues have turned their attention to the shorter form of the game - with students trying to fit net sessions and fielding practice around their exam schedules.
The Varsity Match will form the climax of a Twenty20 Week at Fenner's, in which the University Women took on local club NCI on Monday; the Blues played Granta CC on Wednesday in a "town vs. gown" affair; and then the county side, Cambridgeshire CCC, as a final warm-up match today (Thursday).
Blues Cricket is one of Cambridge University's oldest sports, with records of us having been playing since 1755. The first Varsity match against Oxford was played in 1827, making the rivalry between the two places one of the oldest in cricket.
But this fact does not prevent the Clubs embracing one of the new phenomena sweeping the game: Twenty20. Thanks to the support of Charles Russell, who have sponsored the match since its inception three years ago, this shorter form of the game is fast becoming a landmark of the Varsity season. More than 150 years of heated rivalry will be settled in just three hours of frenetic action. And with both sides boasting a wealth of First Class experience, the standard promises to be better than ever.
Meanwhile, off the field of play, a small committee of players have been working tirelessly to organise an event to rival the great success of Oxford last year, when hundreds of people turned out to the beautiful setting of the University Parks to enjoy the game. This year, two weeks ahead of the game, more than 1,500 tickets have already been sold.
If sales continue as projected, Fenner's will boast crowds the likes of which have not been seen for decades.
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