Blues turn attention to Varsity T20

After a good start to the season, the Blues Cricket team are looking ahead to 3 Varsity matches, with the Twenty20 in particular attracting excitement.

ansari blues cricket fenners frankie brown probert surrey Varsity

As exam season looms and the libraries fill, the Blues cricketers have begun their season. With the Varsity matches not starting until late June, and a break of 3 weeks having just started courtesy of Tripos, it is a testing time for the University’s cricketers, combining hard work off the field with consistency on it.

The Blues have got off to a good start. A strong squad, including England under 19s representatives Zafar Ansari and Paul Best, are looking to become the first Cambridge side to win the ‘triple’ of Varsity matches: The four-day, one-day and Twenty20 games.

England U19’s Best bowling to KP last week

Alongside the Freshers, the Blues still have plenty of survivors from last year’s dramatic victory at Lord’s, including wicket-keeper Gus Kennedy, as well as prolific batsman Anand Ashok, all of whom have shown excellent form so far this season. The side is ably skippered by Richard Timms, a veteran of four Varsity matches.

Timms, himself an ex-professional with Somerset CCC, said of his team that “we have an excellent squad and I fully expect us to dominate Oxford”. He spoke with particular enthusiasm about the Twenty20 Varsity game, this year held at Fenners in Cambridge on June 17th.

“It should be a huge day and I expect crowds to be in their thousands. Tickets are selling quickly and I would encourage everybody to get down to Fenners to give the Oxford boys a hard time and start May Week in style.”

The Twenty20 Varsity match is a relatively new concept, now in its fourth year. Played with pink balls (you aren’t the first one to laugh at that), powerplays and short boundaries, it should be a fantastic atmosphere for the start of May Week. At the game there will be a Garden Party, for which tickets are already on sale, including cheerleaders, live music, Jacuzzis and lazer-quest. After losing last year’s game in Oxford, the Blues will be desperate for revenge.

For now it is a case of keeping all of the squad in prime form. A crushing victory against the Duke of Norfolk’s XI in Arundel last week confirmed the talent of the side. Ansari and Timms blazed the ball to all corners of the ground as the Blues racked up 230-4, before bowling the opposition out for 120, with Ansari, Probert and I all taking 3 wickets.

Added to this, the Cambridge MCCU team, which featured 4 members of the Blues squad beating Surrey at Fenners was a timely boost.
With just over a month to go until the Varsity Twenty20, Cambridge are looking determined and dangerous.