British Universities cricket team
Encyclopedia
The British Universities cricket team is a cricket
team whose players are drawn from university
sides primarily in Great Britain
as the name suggests, but not exclusively those of Oxford
and Cambridge
. The team played under the title of Combined Universities until 1995.
Combined Universities' first matches in major cricket came in the 1975 Benson & Hedges Cup
. In their first game, on 3 May, they beat Worcestershire
by 66 runs thanks largely to an outstanding all-round performance by Imran Khan
, who top-scored for the team with 35 then returned figures of 8.3-6-4-4
with the ball. From 1975 to 1992 inclusive, the team played only in this competition. Perhaps their most successful year was 1989, in which a team led by future England
captain Mike Atherton
and containing two other future Test
batsmen (Nasser Hussain
and Steve James
) beat Surrey
and Worcestershire in the group stages, then fell short by just 3 runs against Somerset
in the quarter-finals.
June 1993 saw the team make its first-class
debut, against the Australians
at The Parks. The tourists won by 166 runs, but Russell Cake
made a career-best 108 for the students. Combined Universities also played first-class games against the New Zealanders
and the West Indians
in the following two seasons, both of which were drawn, as well as continuing in the Benson & Hedges Cup.
From the 1995 season onwards the team was renamed British Universities, partly to reflect the fact that players were now increasingly coming from outside Oxbridge
; the team played under its new title for a few more years in the Benson & Hedges Cup until that competition was restructured after the 1998 season. They continued to play one first-class game a year against a touring international side until 2006, although their weakness when compared to the opposition meant that they did not come close to winning any of these games.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
team whose players are drawn from university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
sides primarily in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
as the name suggests, but not exclusively those of Oxford
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
and Cambridge
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
. The team played under the title of Combined Universities until 1995.
Combined Universities' first matches in major cricket came in the 1975 Benson & Hedges Cup
Benson & Hedges Cup
The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals....
. In their first game, on 3 May, they beat Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
by 66 runs thanks largely to an outstanding all-round performance by Imran Khan
Imran Khan
Imran Khan Niazi is a Pakistani politician and former Pakistani cricketer, playing international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century. After retiring, he entered politics...
, who top-scored for the team with 35 then returned figures of 8.3-6-4-4
Bowling analysis
In the sport of cricket, a bowling analysis usually refers to a notation summarising a bowler's performance in terms of overs bowled, how many of those overs are maidens , total runs conceded and number of wickets taken...
with the ball. From 1975 to 1992 inclusive, the team played only in this competition. Perhaps their most successful year was 1989, in which a team led by future England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
captain Mike Atherton
Mike Atherton
Michael Andrew Atherton OBE is a broadcaster, journalist and retired England international cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England,and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the captaincy of England at the age of 25 and led the side in a record 54 Test matches...
and containing two other future Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
batsmen (Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain OBE is a former Essex and England cricketer.Beginning his career in a strong Essex side in the late 1980s, he was an outstanding fielder and a stylish but inconsistent batsman. In first-class cricket from 1987 to 2004 Hussain scored 20,698 runs in 334 matches at an average of 42.06,...
and Steve James
Steve James (cricketer)
Stephen Peter James is a former English cricketer who played two Tests for England in 1998, making 71 runs in four innings. He was captain of Glamorgan for three seasons before retiring in 2003 after 17 seasons with the club, aged 35...
) beat Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
and Worcestershire in the group stages, then fell short by just 3 runs against Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
in the quarter-finals.
June 1993 saw the team make its first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut, against the Australians
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
at The Parks. The tourists won by 166 runs, but Russell Cake
Russell Cake
Russell Quentin Cake is a former English cricketer who played regularly for Cambridge University in the mid-1990s. He was born in Chertsey, Surrey and attended King's College School, Wimbledon....
made a career-best 108 for the students. Combined Universities also played first-class games against the New Zealanders
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...
and the West Indians
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
in the following two seasons, both of which were drawn, as well as continuing in the Benson & Hedges Cup.
From the 1995 season onwards the team was renamed British Universities, partly to reflect the fact that players were now increasingly coming from outside Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
; the team played under its new title for a few more years in the Benson & Hedges Cup until that competition was restructured after the 1998 season. They continued to play one first-class game a year against a touring international side until 2006, although their weakness when compared to the opposition meant that they did not come close to winning any of these games.