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Loughborough MCCU v Leeds Bradford MCCU

2-day MCCU Challenge Match

8th & 9th May 2012 – Loughborough

Following the wash-out of the BUCS game the day before, the 2-day MCCU challenge game against Loughborough was unable to get underway until 4 pm due to a soaked outfield. Both Andrew Lawson and Russell Cobb (the new Loughborough head coach) were desperate to get some play in.

Leeds Bradford lost the toss and were put in to bat. After a decent start with Slater and Webb putting on 30 for the first wicket the wheels came off, to leave us teetering on 81 for 6. In what could prove to be a crucial game Rick Moore and Will Vanderspar then batted superbly, sharing a 7th wicket stand of 119 before Vanderspar fell just before close of play. However, on an overnight total of 205 for 7 and with Moore still there on 67 not out, the boys will be hoping to add a few more tomorrow before having a crack with the ball in what could be an intriguing days play.

As it turned out the last 3 wickets could only add a further 36 runs before the Yellows were dismissed for 241 – 9 runs short of a 3rd batting point. Let’s hope we’re not left to regret that at the end pof the season. In reply Loughborough got off to a shocker, losing their first 2 wickets with only 3 runs on the board. However the 3rd wicket pair rallied and, despite the ball beating the bat with metronomic regularity, they were still there when the rain came once again, this time bringing an end to the proceedings with Loughborough on 78-2.

The weather has played absolute havoc with both the one-day and two-day competitions with only Cambridge managing to get positive results from theor 3 games so far. They now have one foot through the Grace Gates at Lord’s so the battle is on to see who joins them. Leeds Bradford now take a two week break before returning to BUCS action at home to Solent on 31 May, followed by Durham at home and Cambridge away in bothe formats of the game.

Praise was heaped on Leeds Bradford following their stunning victory over the professionals of Sussex in the 3-day game at Weetwood.

Texts, tweets and facebook messages were received from all quarters, congratulating the team on the achievement. It seems as though the cricketing fraternity around the country . . . and the world . . . knew about it, with messages flying in from Australia, South Africa, India and beyond.

Yorkshire’s first team coach Jason Gillespie tweeted: ‘@leedsmccu Well played. Some good young players. Enjoy your win. Top effort.’

Yorkshire CCC’s official Twitter feed said ‘Well played the Yorkshire students. Played very well against #yccc and well done beating Sussex. Enjoy your celebrations.’

Former squad member and current Essex CCC star Tom Craddock tweeted ‘Congrats @leedsmccu. Top effort.’

Another former squad member, Shaaiq Choudhry of Worcestershire CCC texted: ‘Just wanted to say congrats to the lads on the great win! Very well deserved after the previous two games!’

Press and web coverage included the two reports on the following links:

LEEDS STUDENT

LORD’S – The Home of Cricket

Needless to say the boys celebrated well and hard into the night, starting with a a couple of tinnies in the pavilion at Weetwood before hitting the Arc and it’s karaoke booths. You’ll be please to hear there are no videos of that, but below are a few pics of the celebrations at Weetwood.

Five of the Sussex squad who played at Weetwood turned out against the West Indian tourists at Hove two days later.  Many people were asking what sort of a team Sussex had out; ‘Not as good as ours’ was the standard reply.

 

LEEDS BRADFORD MCCU v SUSSEX CCC

Tues 1st, Weds 2nd & Thurs 3rd May 2012 – Weetwood, Leeds

Leeds Bradford claimed their second-ever county scalp at Weetwood today when they beat Sussex County Cricket Club by 79 runs. This was a truly well-deserved victory – although at tea on the final day the game was finely balanced, with Sussex possibly being the slight favourites. However, a devastating spell from Ivan Thomas, including 3 wickets in 4 balls, ensured the students gained their first county win since Surrey were beaten at The Oval in 2005.

Here is how the game unfolded . . .

Day 1

Following what seemed like 3 months of persistent rain at Weetwood a prompt start against the pros was always going to be unlikely.  After the two teams warmed up in hats and gloves Rick Moore lost the toss and was asked to bat. His team couldn’t have got off to a worse start, Ben Slater being adjudged leg before to left-arm seamer Naved Arif from the first ball of the game. Harry Bush joined Jonny Webb and took the total to 41 Webb edged Will Adkin to the keeper. Bush was clean bowled by Lewis Hatchett for 26 and when Luis Reece & Dan Hodgson were both caught behind off Wernars the home side were struggling on 62 for 5. Joe Leach and Rick Moore began rebuilding the innings and had taken the total to 111 for 5 from 40.4 overs when further rain and bad light brought an early close to the day with Moore on 31 and Leach on 24, the partnership one run short of 50.

Day 2 – part one

Play began on time on the second day – and what a day in turned out to be! Leach and Moore had only added a further 17 runs before the skipper was bowled by Adkin for 42 and Tommy Hardman fell to the same bowler two balls later when became ‘keepr Ben Brown’s 4th victim of the innings. Leach fell 10 runs later for a patient 40 from 104 balls and then Alex MacQueen and Matt Higginbottom added 26 for the 9th wicket – the 3rd highest partnership of the innings and another hugely valuable one, to go with the 95 they added for the 9th wicket against Yorkshire. The innings closed on 164 when Higginbottom and Thomas both fell to Wernars. This was probably 30-40 runs short of a par score on a seaming pitch and slow outfield, but as this correspondent tweeted at the time, “Three wickets before lunch would be nice.” And three wickets before lunch he got, as a prelude to a remarkable afternoon’s play.

Harry Finch, on his first team debut, and Will Adkin had taken Sussex to 18 for 0 – despite the debutant playing and missing at just about every ball he faced from Thomas. Nevertheless it looked like they’d be taking lunch with 10 wickets still intact. Moore introduced Luis Reece into the attack – and what a move it was. With his second ball he bowled the nervy-looking Finch (I wonder if Finch tweets?) and with his 5th he trapped Brown in front. Then in his next over he gained another lbw decision when he rapped Machan on the pads. 18-0 had become 22-3 at lunch. As requested!

In his first full over of the afternoon session Reece bagged another leg before, this time the Sussex captain Kirk Wernars, to give him figures of 3-3-0-4. Then in the next over Tommy Hardman got in on the act when he bowled Adkin to leave Sussex on 22-5. This quickly became 22-6 when Reece held a stunning return catch to get rid of Hodd; no chance then of Hodd carrying his team. His figures were now, unbelievably, 5-5-0-5. This can’t have happened very often in ANY form of cricket – let alone against a county team. The say in cricket that one wicket brings two. In this case it was one wicket brings six. And soon more . . .

Reece’s figures were the best recorded by a Leeds Bradford player in any form of cricket and the second best ever by an MCCU or UCCE player against a county team since the scheme began in 2001 - only Lee Daggett’s 8-94 for Durham UCCE v Durham CCC in 2004 being better. Needless to say, Sussex’s total of 58 was the lowest-ever by a county against Leeds Bradford, beating the 135 scored by Yorkshire last month.

Day 2 – part two

With a first innings lead of 106 (the fifth time in the last six games against county teams that the ‘yellows’ have had such a lead) and around 40 overs left in the day the plan was to extend the lead as much as possible whilst still having time to grab 10 wickets in the county side’s 2nd innings. With the wicket still doing a bit and Sussex’x bowlers desperate for revenge batting was still a challenge. Wickets fell regularly and at 71-6 and the lead still only (only!) 177 Sussex would have been feeling confident. Harry Bush remained resolute and found an allie in Tommy Hardman. At the close of play they’d taken the score to 102-6 with Bush on 40* and the lead now over 200.

Day 3

‘Get the lead up to 270 and then we’ll have half an hour at them before lunch” were the words from head coach Andrew Lawson during warm-up. Hardman suffered a back spasm and had to receive treatment from the Sussex physio before resuming his innings on 6*. Bush was caught behind for 46 and MacQueen fell for a duck but Higginbottom yet again added useful runs at No 10. Hardman was run out for 23 and when the lead past 250 Rick Moore was able to declare the innings with the score on 149-9 – leaving the professionals needing 256 to win.

Ivan Thomas opened the bowling with unerring accuracy with Finch in particular struggling against him.  Sussex had crept along cautiously to 26 before they lost their first wicket after 15.5 overs – Finch being bowled by Thomas. Brown was the next to fall when he played a rash shot at Reece and was caught by Webb at midwicket. Adkin, who had look composed, was the next to go with the score on 47 and another 209 needed for victory when Thomas gained a leg before decision. Kirk Wernars and the dangerous-looking Matt Machan then combined to put together the highest partnership of the match. At tea they were 126 for 3 and beginning to dominate the attack – Machan becoming more and more aggressive and confident. With another 130 for Sussex to win, it was certainly game on  but with the score on 143 and the partnership having reached 96, Matt Higginbottom made a crucial breakthrough when Wernars played an irrational shot and Leach took the catch. This was a prelude to a devastating spell from Ivan Thomas. The Kent paceman grabbed 3 wickets in 4 balls; Moore held on to a catch at slip, next ball Naved Arif had his middle stump removed and then 2 balls later Callum Jackson’s middle peg was sent cartwheeling. 143-3 had now become 147-7 – which quickly became 156-8 when Thomas gained an admittedly slighly fortuitous lbw decsion to remove Hodd.

Two wickets were required for a famous win – and Luis Reece required 2 wickets to give him 10 in the match. Bush gave him his 9th when he clung on to a catch at slip to get rid of Hatchett and victory was sealed when he grabbed his 10th by bowling Liddle. An unbelievable victory and the cue for a night of richly deserved celebrations.
 

OXFORD MCCU v LEEDS-BRADFORD
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2012 at THE PARKS – BUCS ONE-DAY

THURSDAY and FRIDAY 19 / 20 APRIL 2012 – MCCU CHAMPIONSHIP – 2-DAYS

THE BUCS ONE-DAYGAME

Whereas we had waited successfully for the rain to stop at Exeter, the same patience went unrewarded at the Parks.

It had begun raining at about 4.00 am and never really stopped all day. So play was abandoned for the day by 1045 am and many of the group never even left the hotel.

And we all hoped that the 2-Day game would bring better luck.

 

THE MCCU CHAMPIONSHIP 2-DAY GAME

DAY 1 – Well, on this occasion, we at least got to the ground but there was never any real prospect of play beginning. Some mopping up was begun but the next squall was never far away to frustrate the
efforts of the ground staff. Play was finally abandoned for the day at 12.30 pm, after an early lunch had been taken.

DAY 2 – At last some cricket. And a real see-saw of a day it turned out to be. Rick Moore used his magic coin to win the toss again and duly inserted the opposition. Play began at 11.00 am but, as the first day had been totally lost, 120 overs in 8 hours cricket were available on day 2 to make up for the lost time.

Leeds-Bradford began well with Tom Hardman and Luis Reece bowling tight lines and stemming the run flow to 1.84 runs per over. Two wickets also interrupted Oxford`s progress. But then the wheels came off for about an hour as the fielding allowed overthrows and balls were simply missed in the field. At least 3 catches also went down. So Oxford added some 70 runs in this time. The over-rate had slowed and we were 2 overs behind the required rate at this juncture. We then seemed to awake from our slumbers and started to play again. The final 20 minutes before lunch saw 5 wickets fall and the momentum most definitely switch. Oxford went in at 107-7 and were soon 113-8. But their last 3 batsmen added 54 and eventually they were all out for 167, Alex MacQueen finishing up with superb figures og 5 for 38 from 17.4 overs on his MCCU 2-day debut. Dan Hodgson also claimed 4 victims. We had, at least, upped the over-rate and got all 4 bowling bonus points

The reply began with Jonathan Webb lashing it to all parts, especially from the one over granted to a spinner at this point. He eventually departed, as did Messrs Bush and Leach, (79-3) but Ben Slater went on his serene way. Luis Reece joined him and eventually found his range as these two really began to motor.

They added 70 in 11 overs and 250 was on but, as so often happens at all levels of the beautiful game, both partners were dismissed virtually together (within 3 balls in fact) and 149-3 had become 149-5. Slater had smashed 7 x fours and 3 x sixes in his innings of 71. Rick Moore and Dan Hodgson steadied things and ensured the 1^st Innings win was obtained at 168 and then Moore set about to get the total up to 200 and an extra points.

LEEDS-BRADFORD WON ON 1^ST INNINGS

OXFORD MCCU 5 PTS; LEEDS-BRADFORD 17.

HOWARD CLAYTON

The press and social media have recently been awash with comments querying the quality of university cricket and whether the MCCUs should have been afforded first class status. The debate on this subject was inflamed when Durham MCCU were dismissed by Durham CCC for just 18 a couple of weeks ago. As Durham’s head coach Graeme Fowler said, this was an absolute ‘car crash’ for the Durham boys, although they haven’t all suddenly become poor players overnight and will hopefully bounce back to prove the doubters wrong.

We are one of the two  ‘new kids on the block’ as far as first class status goes. Ourselves and Cardiff were only bestowed with the honour over the winter. Leeds Bradford have now played two games at this level – against Surrey at the Oval and Yorkshire at Headingley. We lost against Surrey by 2 runs after chasing 315 to win and then had the better of a drawn game against Yorkshire in our own ‘local derby’. To redress the balance of negative comments about the MCCU’s status, here are a few snippets from the media during and following our match at Headingley.

YCCC coach Jason Gillespie on Twitter (end of Day 1): “Not an ideal day today in our game v Leeds Bradford Uni. We were outplayed today” “Leeds Bradford bowled well today. We have no excuses.”

At end of Day 2: “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a game on our hands. Looking forward to a run chase v Leeds Bradford at some point tomorrow.”

And at the end of Day 3: “Thank you for the game Leeds Bradford. Was a good contest, great hit out for us. Some talented players in their side. Pity about the weather.”

James Buttler on YCCC’s official website: “The rain fell to spoil what looked like it was going to be an exciting climax to the three-day fixture at Headingley. Yorkshire were two wickets down and 180 short of the winning line when the heavens opened. The Leeds Bradford MCCU can take huge credit though for the way they played their cricket to make their county opposition fight hard.”

“The students have been an impressive bunch, particularly in the field.”

“One thing cannot be debated – the Leeds Bradford MCCU, after narrowly losing to Surrey and more than worrying Yorkshire at Headingley, have done a lot to calm the debate on whether university matches should be first-class fixtures. The students at Headingley over the last few days have been first class.” FULL REPORT HERE

Chris Waters in the Yorkshire Post:  ”At a time when there is much debate around whether universities should even hold first class status . . . one is unlikely to hear too many dissenting voices from Headingley Carnegie. For after running Surrey close at the Oval earlier in the month Leeds Bradford once more did themselves proud against a Yorkshire side who, in truth, struggled  at times against less vaunted opponents.”

“For long periods of the game it seemed as though the young men of Leeds Bradford might spring a surprise on their county opponents.”

“On a competitive pitch that offered something for everyone, Leeds Bradford actually bowled in a fashion that would have put several counties to shame. Ivan Thomas and Joe Leach were particularly impressive, the former looking a real prospect as he bowled some splendid material from the Kirkstall Lane end.” FULL REPORT HERE

YCCC bastman Anthony McGrath in the Telegraph and Argus: “Last week’s game against Leeds/Bradford MCCU was a really good workout for the lads. I said to their coach after the game that I thought it was the best University team I’ve played against. They made it really competitive and were a really good unit. We were all very impressed with  them. In truth it was a disappointing end to the game, because it was boiling up to be a good finish.” FULL ARTICLE HERE 

Finally, the Yorkshire CCC Forum on their official website had some interesting chat, to say the least. Probably the best comment on the Yorkshire v Leeds Bradford match thread came from ‘Triple Centurion’ who, when after the game had finished was wondering about Yorkshire’s selection for their next game against Essex , wrote:-  ”Unfortunately we have a few selection headaches for Thursday as Higginbottom, McQueen, Reece, Thomas and Hodgson are unavailable for consideration due to examinations.”

When you add to this the number of positive words from the YCCC players, messages to the players and coaching staff on Facebook, Twitter etc and the congratulatory emails from various members of staff at Headingley, the whole squad comes out in an extremely positive light. We now have to transform this form to our matches against the other universities starting with our visit to Oxford at The Parks this coming Weds, Thurs and Friday.

The Year of the Yellow??

 

 

 

YORKSHIRE v LEEDS-BRADFORD

FRIDAY TO SUNDAY 13-15 APRIL 2012 at HEADINGLEY

All readers of this report can do worse than visit the Yorkshire CCC website here YCCC Report

James Buttler has been more than fair in his assessment and the praise is genuine. Nick Davis also showed a tweet from Jason Gillespie, congratulating the Players on their splendid achievements.

A target of 266 in the fourth innings of a game where there was never less than 2 slips in place, even to Azeem Rafiq on the final afternoon, was never going to be easy and, after initial looseness,
Ivan Thomas and Joe Leach bowled 39 consecutive dot balls to Sayers and McGrath to halt the flow of runs.

The dismissal of Joe Root in Ivan Thomas` first over showed the potential problems. It was more likely to have passed under the stumps ! This was the 12^th LBW decision of 13 in the game.

Earlier, Leeds-Bradford had made 211 in their 1^st innings, the highest innings total of the game. Their 2^nd innings of 189 was the second highest. The fielding was sharp and the catching
certainly better than their opponents who shelled four chances in the final session of Day 2 alone.

Ivan Thomas was undoubtedly the best seam bowler on view on either side. Not just his figures (3-45 in 25 overs) but his unrelenting accuracy. He cannot be far away from the Kent 1^st XI on this showing and in the previous 1^st class outing against Surrey, where he went at 2 an over.

It all adds up to a huge potential in this team. The three days at the Parks against Oxford later this week will let us see just how good we are.

HOWARD CLAYTON

 

The excellent web-based journal Cricket Yorkshire interviewed Leeds Bradford’s head coach Andrew Lawson prior to the game against Yorkshire. Below is a transcript of John Fuller’s article and clicking on Cricket Yorkshire Lawson Interview will take you to the page itself.  We are hoping to keep in touch with Cricket Yorkshire over the coming year. The site aims at promoting cricket around the White Rose county from grassroots up.

LEEDS BRADFORD MCCU

There was a time not too long ago, when university matches used to be seen as an extended practice by county batsmen and bowlers to fill their boots. But universities are no longer the soft targets they once were.

Catching up with Leeds Bradford MCCU coach, Andrew Lawson, over Skype ahead of their three-day match with Yorkshire at Headingley, he is quietly confident and he has every reason to be. It is a landmark season for Leeds/Bradford MCCU who, along with Cardiff/Glamorgan, are the last MCC university centres of cricketing excellence to be awarded first-class status.

If Cambridge, Durham, Loughborough & Oxford are more established in that sense, it is the Yorkshire-based university outfit that has sent out its own statement of intent recently by taking Surrey right to the wire down at the Kia Oval, losing by an agonising two runs.

It is a mark of the journey that started a decade ago with a thumping defeat to Leicestershire at Grace Road by an innings and 316 runs, though credit to Surrey down at SW11 for declaring and offering a chase of 315 in a day.

While Yorkshire benefited from preseason in Barbados, Leeds-Bradford MCCU opted for Pune in India, which gave them valuable game-time outdoors but surely the coach was surprised at quite how well they performed?

“I suppose, yes and no. We came into the Surrey game with most of the guys having spent a bit of time at the wicket batting or having had a good bowl. Plus, we’d played quite well against the counties last year, so mentally the boys were fairly comfortable. I wasn’t shocked, I thought we could do quite well.”

Lawson wouldn’t be a cricket coach without identifying areas for the squad to improve on, such as being “slow off the mark in the first innings” but this is clearly a squad with potential for a shock victory against either Yorkshire or when they play Sussex at Weetwood in early May.

Then came the reality check of sorts, which only gave ammunition to those that don’t agree the university sides should have first-class status. Durham MCCU were humiliated by being bowled out for just 18 against Durham. Twitter was awash with tweets from observers, some in the mainstream media, throwing around comments like ‘disgraceful.’

Lawson is both protective of Leeds Bradford MCCU’s new status, seeing it as a positive way forward, but also hopes people will take the freak Durham MCCU result in a wider context of progress:

“I’m over the moon that we’ve got first class status. I think it’s a step in the right direction. Putting a bit of value on the game adds a bit of edge to it. With the idea that we’re trying to get these boys to be seen by the counties and hopefully by the time they’ve finished studying, signed contracts with the county sides.”

“I think last week’s game (Durham MCCU) was a one-off. If you go back over the last handful of years where all the other centres have been there, the results have been fairly decent.”

The aims for Lawson’s university squad in 2012 are two-fold but the mantra of consistency crops up more than once. Against the counties, the MCCU squad need to maintain a level of performance over a number of days. That might sound obvious but not particularly easy with the considerable step up from playing university cricket.

Leeds Bradford MCCU brushed aside Exeter University this week by nine wickets but will raise more than a few eyebrows, if they repeat that against Martyn Moxon’s 1^st XI squad. A positive result, of any kind, in three days is always going to rely on one XI folding like a pack of cards in their first innings.

In the games against other universities, consistency across all formats of the game is the target: “We’ve found we’ve been a little bit up and down. We’ve played well in one competition and haven’t been able to mirror it in the other. Hopefully we can adjust our minds and skills.”

So, to the three-day challenge of Yorkshire with Leeds Bradford MCCU travelling less than two miles down Otley Road to Headingley. Apart from the sense of big occasion, it’s an obvious opportunity for players to get noticed by county coaches at Yorkshire. A three-day shop window, if you like. One such player will be Dan Hodgson who has already shown enough promise to be awarded a summer contract with Yorkshire and will aim to string together eye-catching performances with Leeds Bradford MCCU.

So, can Leeds Bradford MCCU go one better than they managed down at Surrey not so long ago and get one over Yorkshire? The coach, understandably, wasn’t about to predict a crushing victory in three days. But, nor does we expect the occasion to get the better of his squad, as long as they play to their potential:

“I’m looking for us to play good, solid cricket from ball one on day one to the end of the third day. If we do it in the batting and bowling, and our fielding backs it up, we’ll be there or thereabouts. Whether it’s good enough to win the game over those three days, only time will tell.”

“I think if we can execute our skills, it’s out of our control what Yorkshire does, we will hopefully have a good three days.”

SURREY v LEEDS-BRADFORD

SATURDAY to MONDAY 31 MARCH to 2 APRIL 2012 at THE KIA OVAL

After many years of trying, 1^st class status was finally awarded to Cardiff and to Leeds-Bradford. The MCCUs of Durham, Loughborough, Oxford and Cambridge had always had that status but, over recent years, the standards had improved all round and teams were regularly beating each other.

So this game was our 1^st class debut and it was made in the splendid surroundings of the Kia Oval in SW11. Rick Moore began by winning the toss and asking Surrey to bat first on what is traditionally the quickest wicket in England. Although this was 31 March and there was a greenish tinge to the strip. It was cloudy and distinctly cold after a glorious week, so Rick had reasons to do this.

We began well enough and, with Surrey at 136-5 just after lunch, we had reasons to be satisfied although an awful lot of boundaries had been scored in that total as well. But it was downhill from there as Tom Maynard and Rory Burns added 146 for the 6^th wicket and another hundred was added by the lower order. Rory Hamilton-Brown declared on 385-8 as his namesake Rory Burns completed his maiden 1^st class hundred. Joe Leach took 4-73 and Ivan Thomas conceded just two runs per over in his return of 1-33 from 16.3 overs.

The Leeds-Bradford reply was curtailed by bad light just after 6.00 pm on the first evening but not before a wicket had fallen.

The second morning dawned bright, sunny and warmer. We were dismissed for 205, a deficit of 180. Harry Bush was the mainstay of the innings, scoring 70 in over 4 hours at the crease. Jonathan Webb`s knock of 38 was the only other noteworthy innings.

As is usual in these games, the follow-on was not enforced but the Surrey batsmen found it harder work second time around and ended the day on 134-5, a lead of 314. Matthew Higginbottom took 2-22 in 9 overs, a remarkable turn-around after his problems in the first innings. Tom Hardman also took a couple of wickets in his Leeds-Bradford debut.

On the third morning, Surrey declared which is unusual for these games as the County side will usually allow its batsmen to fill their boots before leaving an impossible target. Surrey, however, opted to set a target of 315 in a whole day. This also ensured that their bowlers would have a good work out, to complement the time their batsmen had had on the first day.

We began badly and were soon 39-2 but Joe Leach and Dan Hodgson then both made 50s, Rick Moore and Luis Reece backed them up and we were 268-5 and in the driving seat. But a low caught and bowled by Tom Jewell promptly dismissed Rick Moore and the new ball reduced us to 285-9. But the last-wicket pair of Matt Higginbottom and Ivan Thomas nudged and groped their way to 312-9 with 3 required with a mixture of edges, extras and genuine shots. But then the final appeal was upheld against Thomas and Surrey were home by just 2 runs. The two batsmen were so disappointed they could hardly drag themselves of the park.

But in a splendid gesture, the Surrey players visited their opponents` dressing room after the game to congratulate us a simply magnificent effort. This was much appreciated.

To finish on a historical note. In April 2002, as Bradford/Leeds UCCE, we played Leicestershire at Grace Road and lost by a little matter of an innings and 316 runs. The team has come a long way since then.

HOWARD CLAYTON

Read the report here from the Surrey Cricket website – www.surrey-oval.co.uk

FINAL DAY REPORT

Report and View From The Scorebox to follow . . .

Andrew Lawson has announced his squad for the 3-day game against Surrey at the Kia Oval starting on Saturday 31st March. This will be a landmark game – our First Class debut! The ECB granted First Class status on us last November for our first two games each season against county sides. The Oval holds fond memories for Leeds Bradford – we gained our first (and to date only) win against county opposition there in 2005 when we defeated a strong Surrey team by 3 wickets.

Last year Surrey, captained by Kevin Pietersen, we beaten by Cambridge MCCU and will be keen not to be embarrassed again. Lawson’s squad will contain a number of the boys who played recently in India with the addition of Luis Reece & Harry Bush, who were away in Abu Dhabi with the Combined MCCU team, and Ivan Thomas, who was on pre-season tour to Antigua with Kent CCC.

The full squad is as follows:-

Rick Moore (capt), Harry Bush, Tommy Hardman, Matt Higginbottom, Daniel Hodgson (wk), Joe Leach, Alex MacQueen, Luis Reece, Charlie Roebuck, Ben Slater, Ivan Thomas, Jonathan Webb.

The only player with previous First Class experience is Charlie Roebuck who made his bow for Yorkshire against India A in 2010.