First-class win for Loughborough Students

Date released: 10 May 2005

Loughborough UCCE became the second MCC University to claim a county scalp this season as their bowlers steered them to an 8 wicket win over Worcestershire at Kidderminster today (10th May).

Richard Clinton (106) and Ed Foster (83) laid the foundations of the Loughborough first innings, enabling the students to declare on 304-6. Seamer Ryan Cummins initiated the Worcestershire decline, removing Stephen Peters and Ben Smith within the first three balls of the innings. All-rounder Steve Clark took the first of his eventual five-wicket haul with his second ball, to leave the hosts reeling on 0-3. Cummins went on to claim the vital wicket of Zander de Bruyn, who top-scored with 81, and David Wainwright – a promising left-arm spinner currently on the books at Yorkshire – chipped in with two wickets as the home side collapsed to 133 all out in 49.2 overs.

Following on, Worcestershire again lost their openers cheaply, and were soon in trouble at 68-3. Ben Smith and Steve Davis put on 76 for the fourth wicket, in what proved to be Worcestershire’s highest stand of the match, but wickets fell regularly after Smith was dismissed by Richard Wilkinson for 68. Shaftab Khalid and Nadeem Malik provided some late resistance, but could only give the county a 38 run advantage. Despite the loss of two wickets, Foster and captain Will Gifford saw Loughborough home in under 11 overs.

“This is a tremendous result for us. I was delighted with the way the guys played over the three days,” said Graham Dilley, Head Coach at Loughborough UCCE. “They applied themselves well and didn’t allow the pressure to ease. This will give us great confidence moving forward for the rest of the season.”

MCC Head of Cricket John Stephenson said, “This is the second outstanding result for MCC Universities against first-class opposition, after Leeds/Bradford UCCE beat Surrey by 4 wickets in their match on 19-22 April. It was pleasing to see the Loughborough students play themselves into a winning position and keep up the momentum to claim the victory.”

MCC took over the funding of the University Centres of Cricketing Excellence at the beginning of 2005, and is investing over £1.2million in the six centres over the next three years. In addition to Loughborough and Leeds/Bradford, the other centres are situated at Cambridge, Cardiff/Glamorgan, Durham and Oxford.