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Wikipedia / The University Match

The University Match is an annual cricket fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. First played in 1827, it is the oldest varsity match in the world.

Until 2001, when first-class cricket was reorganised, the University Match was a three-day first-class fixture, played at Lord's. Subsequently, it was replaced with a one-day University Match played at Lord's and a four-day first-class fixture played alternately at Fenner's and The Parks. The 2021 one-day match was the last to be played at Lord's and, from 2022, the one-day University Match has been played at Arundel Castle. One-off twenty-over matches for men and women were arranged at Lord's in 2022. In February 2022, the MCC announced that, from 2023, the twenty-over fixtures would no longer be held at Lord's. Following opposition from a section of its membership, the club decided that the twenty-over matches would continue to be held at Lord's in 2023 to allow time for further consultation. In March 2023, it was announced that the twenty-over fixture would continue to be played at Lord's until at least 2027, following which there would be a review and a possible vote in 2028 on whether the matches should remain at Lord's.

These twenty-over matches are not to be confused with the 'University Matches' for which colours are awarded. Cambridge award a blue for both the one-day and four-day games and Oxford award a blue for the four-day game only. Blues are not awarded for the twenty-over match. At the same time, Oxford players have also played in the Oxford University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (Oxford UCCE, also including Oxford Brookes University, now superseded by the Oxford MCCU), and Cambridge players in the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (Cambridge UCCE, including Anglia Ruskin University and now the Cambridge MCCU). However, only those at Oxford and Cambridge Universities are eligible to play in the University Match(es).

The four-day match lost its first-class status after the 2020 fixture.

History

The match was first played in 1827, at Lord's, at the instigation of Charles Wordsworth, making it the oldest intercollegiate sporting event in the world. Wordsworth was also responsible for founding The Boat Race in 1829.

The next two University matches were in 1829 and 1836. From 1838 it has been played annually, except for the war years of 1915–1918 and 1940–45. (From 1941 to 1945, a one-day fixture was played at Lord's, but these matches are not counted in the official records.) Lord's was to become its permanent venue from 1851 to 2000, but five of the early matches were played in the vicinity of Oxford.

It was traditionally an annual three-day first-class fixture. From the 1830s until 1939, it was among the most important fixtures of the season, attracting large crowds and widespread press coverage. Over three hundred thousand people watched the university match between 1871 and 1887. It was still a major social, as well as sporting, event as recently as just after World War II . According to The Cricketer (1954), the 1954 match attracted over 13,000 paying spectators as well as MCC members.

In terms of the clubs concerned, the University Match was the oldest first-class fixture still being played in 2020, its final year with first-class status. Matches between county teams prior to formation of the current county clubs have a longer history, with the oldest known county fixture between Kent and Surrey, which dates back to 1709 at least.

Despite never matriculating, Tom Wills was allowed to play for Cambridge in the 1856 match. He went on to found Australian rules football and coach the first Australian cricket team to tour England.

Some of the most dramatic matches in the long history of the fixture occurred in the 1870s. The first of these was 'Cobden's Match' in 1870. F. C. Cobden took the last three Oxford wickets in consecutive balls to give Cambridge victory by 2 runs. The following year S. E. Butler took 10–38 in the Cambridge first innings (the only instance of a bowler taking all ten), followed by five more wickets in the second innings. In 1873 Oxford won by only three wickets. The 1875 match was almost as close an affair as that in 1870. Needing 175 to win, Cambridge were 161–7 at one point, but were all out for 168 to lose by six runs.

Another notable match was in 1923, which became known as the "Thunderstorm match". Oxford had run up a good score, and a torrential storm for much of the night rendered the pitch almost unplayable, so that Cambridge were quickly dismissed in two innings.

William Yardley of Cambridge has the distinction of scoring the first two hundreds made in the series: 100 in 1870 in Cobden's Match and 130 in 1872.

Robin Marlar's bowling figures for Cambridge are worth noting:

  • 1951: 5–41 and 1–64

  • 1952: 7–104 and 2–25

  • 1953: 5–94 and 7–49

Players who became (or in a few instances were already) famous to have appeared in the match include: Alfred Lyttelton (Cantab. 1876–9), Allan Steel (Cantab. 1878–81), Stanley Jackson (Cantab. 1890–3), C. B. Fry (Ox. 1892–5), K. S. Ranjitsinhji (Cantab. 1893), Pelham Warner (Ox. 1895–6), Gilbert Jessop (Cantab. 1896–9), R. E. Foster (Ox. 1897–1900), Bernard Bosanquet (Ox. 1898–1900), Percy Chapman (Cantab. 1920–2), Douglas Jardine (Ox. 1920–1, 1923), Gubby Allen (Cantab. 1922–3), K. S. Duleepsinhji (Cantab. 1925–8), Nawab of Pataudi snr (Ox. 1929–31), Ken Farnes (Cantab. 1931–3), Martin Donnelly (Ox. 1946–7), Abdul Kardar (Ox. 1947–9), Peter May (Cantab. 1950–2), David Sheppard (Cantab. 1950–2), Colin Cowdrey (Ox. 1952–4), M. J. K. Smith (Ox. 1954–6), Ted Dexter (Cantab. 1956–8), Nawab of Pataudi jnr (Ox. 1960–1, 1963), Tony Lewis Cantab 1960–62), Mike Brearley (Cantab. 1961–4), Majid Khan (Cantab. 1971–3), Imran Khan (Ox. 1973–5) and Mike Atherton (Cantab. 1987, 1989). It can be seen that the majority were batsmen rather than bowlers and that the 1890s and 1950s to early 1960s were particularly fertile periods. At the time of writing, the most recent Oxbridge international cricketers are Ed Smith (Cantab. 1996–7) in Tests, and James Dalrymple (Ox. 2001–3) in limited-overs internationals.

From 2001 the match has been replaced by two fixtures each year: a one-day match played at Lord's and a four-day fixture (first-class up to and including 2020) played in alternate years at Fenner's in Cambridge and The Parks in Oxford. Blues are awarded to those appearing in either match for Cambridge players but only to Oxford players who appear in the four-day game. Unless otherwise stated, statistics quoted in this article are for the first-class fixtures only.

In 2008, for the first time a Twenty20 fixture was also played.

The 2020 four-day match was delayed until September because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Records

Results

Up to and including 2020, 176 first-class matches were scheduled. Cambridge won 61, Oxford won 58, 56 were drawn and one match (in 1988) was abandoned without a ball being bowled. From 2021, whilst no longer first-class, the four-day University Match has been played under first-class conditions. Cambridge has won 1, Oxford 1 with 3 draws.

The one-day University Match has been scheduled on 24 occasions (as of 2025). Cambridge won 9, Oxford won 13 and three have been abandoned.

Highest and lowest scores by each side

  • 604 Cambridge University v Oxford University, The Parks, 2002

  • 611-5d Oxford University v Cambridge University, The Parks, 2010

  • 39 Cambridge University v Oxford University, Lord's, 1858

  • 32 Oxford University v Cambridge University, Lord's, 1878

Individual triple centuries

  • 313* Sam Agarwal, Oxford, Fenner's, 2013 (also the highest first-class innings for Oxford University)

Individual double centuries

Century on first-class debut

Best innings bowling

Best match bowling

Hat-tricks

Match double (100 runs & 10 wickets)

See also

Notes

References

Sources

  • Barclays World of Cricket (2nd edition), 1980.

  • Playfair Cricket Annual, 2006