Success for UKC Men's Cricket 2s

Image courtesy of InQuire Media

The University of Kent secured another win for Team Kent in this year’s Varsity after defeating Canterbury Christ Church University on their home turf in an exhilarating Men’s 2s indoor cricket match.

The Sport Centre was packed to the rafters with students supporting both sides, who witnessed the match upstairs in the balcony.

The away side came into this matchup with confidence, having defeated C4 four times this season to win the Pharon League Division 1 title.

The home side won the toss and elected to bowl, with Kent set for 12 overs of batting. Right from the get-go, Christ Church looked nervous serving a wide ball on the first delivery. Conceding several wide and no balls, the extras would come back to bite the side in their hopes for victory.

Captain Nicholas Hutchinson and Connor Adams opened the innings for UKC and were quickly building a solid scoreline, with Adams hitting several sixes to bring his total to 33 off just 4.1 overs. After securing a 50-run partnership from quick singles, Hutchinson was forced to retire in the seventh over. He was replaced by number 3 Hopkins who was eager to get in on the action with another boundary.

Another six from Adams took him past 25. Walking back to the hut, he was replaced by Esh Ratnaweera.

Christ Church had many chances throughout the game, including an edge and several stump attempts, but to no avail. Hopkins then attempted a square cut to only be caught out and replaced by Abdal Altaf.

A mix-up left incomer Johnson stranded off his crease. As Kent reached a century in the final balls, Christ Church had the opportunity for a clean sweep, but a poor throw to their wicket-keeper meant Kent lived for another day.

The final tally was 124 for 3 wickets, an average of 10.33 an over. C4 needing 125 runs from 72 balls.

With the barmy army raving in the stands, Kent came back out with an air of confidence. However, CCCU made UKC work hard during their innings. Altaf opening the bowling with a high no-ball. Hutchinson got his team back together and sought to intimidate the batsmen with their pressing fielding. Chances went amiss, including an LBW call and several contentious runout decisions by the umpires.

Nevertheless, UKC got its first wicket with a runout by Altaf. C4 began to build momentum, reaching 65 in the 7th over. Two subsequent boundaries and a dropped catch increased the tension in the building. C4 needing only 31 runs from 3 overs.

There was a huge call for an edged catch, but the umpire was not having it much to the annoyance of the Kent faithful. In the final over, C4 needed a big push for 18 runs off 6 balls. But UKC’s fielding was superb and as the final ball was drawn, UKC could taste victory; CCCU finishing their innings with 119 runs, 5 short of the benchmark set by Kent.

The Kent crowd screamed with jubilation at the team’s successful performance. The win brought Kent two points closer to victory, in the search to become the most dominant sports university in Canterbury.