Men’s and women’s cricket squads both reach the finals

University of Exeter Cricket is celebrating hitting a rich vein of form as both the women’s and men’s indoor squads have reached  the BUCS Championship Indoor Finals to be held at the ‘home of cricket’, Lord’s Cricket Ground, on 25 January and 1February respectively.

Director of Cricket, Julian Wyatt, has worked hard with both squads following the Christmas break to ensure they are at their best come final’s day:

“Both teams have performed well to get this far in the competition, but face tougher challenges and will have to play at their best and deal with the pressures that knockout finals can bring”.

Exeter is the only University to qualify both their men’s and women’s squads for the finals having shown good early season promise at their respective regional qualifiers before Christmas.

In October, the women won their group and automatic qualification when they comprehensively defeated Cardiff by 5 wickets and Aberystwyth by 6 wickets in Glamorgan.  Sports Scholars Phoebe Graham and Emily Robinson both featured with the bat to help the squad ease through the qualifying round.

They faced a tougher test at Lord’s on Wednesday 25 January where they took on Birmingham, Southampton and Loughborough in Pool B, hoping to win a spot in the final to play the winners of pool A and challenge for their first BUCS indoor title. Knowing that getting off to good start would be key in this format, match one versus Birmingham was a thrilling affair from start to finish. Exeter lost their last wicket on the final ball of the innings but scored a respectable 99 runs with Sports Scholar Phoebe Graham top scoring with 29.  In reply Birmingham fought all the way to the end in an innings which ebbed and flowed throughout.  They reached the match winning score of 100/5 off the final ball of the match, winning by 1 wicket.  Game 2 vs Southampton saw Exeter romp home by 6 wickets.  They restricted Southampton to 92 all out and reached their target with without losing a wicket. This left Game 3 vs Loughborough which Exeter needed to win in order to have any chance of reaching the final. Exeter struggled a little against tough opposition making 72/4, Robinson this time scored 30 not out. Loughborough in reply reached 73/1 with Exeter losing by 5 wickets. Overall Julian Wyatt was happy with the performances and stated “it was a positive experience for the women and something we must carry forward to the outdoor season. It was good to see a strong Loughborough side as it helps the squad see the level they have to aspire to. The men’s competition promises to be another tight affair.”

Attention now turns to the men’s squad who played their regional qualifier in November at the SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff.  Like their female counterparts, Exeter dominated their group beating Cardiff by 40 runs and Portsmouth by 62 runs.   1^st team captain Joe Barrs lead the side from the front particularly in the second game when he blew the opposition away with some aggressive short pitched bowling and he batted with a very calm manner; Joe was ably supported with the bat by Sports Scholar Matt Laidman. 

The men now face Newcastle and Sheffield in their pool and will hope they can emulate the success they last tasted back in 2007 when they won then BUSA Indoor Cricket Championships.