The University of Exeter Sport Corporate Indoor 6-a-side Cricket League won by Wilkinson Grant.

Wilkinson Grant progressed through to finals night having won Group A, with Ashfords coming second. Group B was won by Filor Solicitors with Devon Medics runners-up. The finals night was always going to be tight, with 4 strong teams participating. Filor Solicitors played Ashfords in the first game with Filor Solicitors winning by 48 runs. They scored 118-4 thanks mainly to the run-machine that is Julian Fawkes with 50 not out, then Ashfords battled but lost wickets at important times and ended up 70 all out with 14 balls remaining. Wilkinson Grant then asked Devon Medics to bat who struggled to 53 all-out thanks to some superb bowling and fielding, with Wilkinson Grant scoring the winning runs for the loss of no wickets inside 6 overs.

The final pitted the tight bowling and fielding of Wilkinson Grant against the explosive batting of Filor Solicitors. Filor Solicitors batted first but soon found themselves in trouble with a mixture of bad running between the wickets and superb fielding from Wilkinson Grant – in particular Will Grieg who ran a batsman out with a direct hit from the other end of the centre. Chris Filor battled to 19 runs to give his team a score of 46 all out. Wilkinson Grant then started very nervously not wanting to risk run-outs and trying to stay not-out against the early Filor Solicitors onslaught. A powerful batting power-play then saw Wilkinson Grant move to victory having lost only 2 wickets with 16 balls remaining.

Met Office and South West Water failed to progress from Group A despite some battling performances.  Previous winners Atass Sports and Pynes Hill Pirates struggled in Group B and were unable to progress to finals night.

“All 8 companies played the league with a great spirit once again and it’s great to see some close games as well as people having fun with an interesting indoor format! Seasons 12 and 13 ran between September and December which keeps people playing cricket throughout the winter, staying sharp for the Summer of 2015.” Said Andrew Fry, Marketing Manager.

The most runs scored in Season 13 were an incredible 224 in just 120 balls by Julian Fawkes representing Filor Solicitors. The closest was John Hickman of Ashfords with 127 runs in 88 balls, then Freddie Filor of Filor Solicitors with 103 in 59 balls.

The most wickets in the season were taken by the highly pleased Jeff Jenner with 10 scalps in 72 balls (that’s a wicket every 7.2 balls!), Jack Stirling of South West Water was second with 6 in 48 balls (despite not playing in the finals night) followed by Patrick Blake of Ashfords with 5 in 66 balls.

The Corporate Indoor 6-a-side League runs every winter at the superb Sir Christopher Ondaatje Devon Cricket Centre based at the University of Exeter Sport Park on the Streatham Campus. Previous winners include: Active Devon, Friends Life, Thomson Reuters, Pynes Hill Pirates, Atass Sports, Flybe and Filor Solicitors.

To become involved in Corporate Sport at the University of Exeter Sport contact Andrew Fry at a.g.fry@exeter.ac.uk       

For more information about the Devon Cricket Centre and the incredible facilities at the Sports Park (following a recent £8million investment) contact the Sports Park reception on 01392 724452 or take a virtual tour on the sport website.