University of Bath Venturers Cricket Club – the University’s staff and postgraduate side – retained the title they won last year when they again won a quadrangular Universities Twenty20 cricket competition held at the University of Bristol’s Combe Dingle sport facilities.
This annual tournament has been organised for the last eleven years, and features the staff and postgraduate cricket sides from the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and UWE.
Last year the Bath Venturers side easily won all three of their matches and won the competition for the first time.
This year they again won their first two matches on the scheduled day, Sunday 4 July, but rain prevented the final round of matches from being played as planned.
In their first match, Bath made 174-4 in their 20 overs against UWE. In reply, UWE batted well but could only reach 129-3, leaving Bath comfortable winners.
The second match was against the staff and postgraduates side from Cardiff, who made 105-3 from their 20 overs. The Bath Venturers lost wickets early on but some sensible batting in heavy rain saw them home, making 106-6 from 19 overs.
As Bristol Academicals had also won both their matches, the final match of the day would determine the winner. Because of the rain it was not possible to play, but rather than abandon the match (which would have given the trophy to Bath on net run rate), the sides agreed to postpone the remaining match.
The final match was played at the University of Bath’s Sulis Club ground on Tuesday 20 July.
Again there was heavy rain but the match was played to a finish, and Bath won very narrowly. Bristol Academicals made 98-9 in their twenty overs, and seemed likely winners when their opening bowler did the hat-trick early in the Bath innings, bowling three Bath batsmen with consecutive balls. But a long partnership between Dr Kevin Robinson and Iain Argyle tilted the match Bath’s way, and in the end Bath won with two wickets and five balls to spare.
Full match reports for all the games will appear in due course on the club website.
The Venturers Cricket Club is a friendly, recreational cricket club which normally plays friendly 20 and 40 over matches during the summer months, and is based at the Sulis Club, close to campus.
New members of any ability, both staff and postgraduate students, are always welcome. Many current players joined the club having not played for many years, so all interest in the side is most welcome.
Full details of the club, including how to join, are available on the club website.