Oxford University Cricket Club (OUCC), which represents the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, has always held first-class status since 1827 when it made its debut in the inaugural

University Match The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...

between OUCC and Cambridge University Cricket Club (CUCC). It was classified as a

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

team in 1973 only. Home fixtures are played at the University Parks slightly northeast of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

city centre.

History

The earliest reference to cricket at Oxford is in 1673. OUCC made its known debut in the inaugural

between Oxford and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

played in 1827. In terms of extant clubs being involved, this is the oldest major fixture in the world: i.e., although some inter-county fixtures are much older, none of the current county clubs were founded before 1839 (the oldest known current fixture is

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

''versus''

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

). The Magdalen Ground was used for the University Cricket Club's first match in 1829, and remain in regular use until 1880. Bullingdon Green was used for two matches in 1843. The University Parks became the home ground of OUCC in 1881, when the Master of Pembroke, Evan Evans obtaining a lease on 10 acres of land there. The pavilion was designed by Thomas G. Jackson, architect of many nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Oxford buildings, including the university's Examination Schools. The building has three gables, the central one containing the clock, and is topped by a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

and

weather-vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

. The pavilion contains a Long Room. The two ends of the pitch are the Pavilion End and the Norham Gardens End. The University Match is now the club's sole first-class fixture each season. Apart from this annual game, played in late June or early July, OUCC operates as part of the Oxford University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (UCCE), which includes

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

. The UCCE was rebranded as Oxford MCC University (MCCU) prior to the 2010 season. The University Match is the only one in which a true OUCC team takes part: i.e., composed entirely of current Oxford students. The Oxford University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (OUCCE) team played 26 first-class matches (not including one abandoned) from 2001 to 2009. As Oxford Marylebone Cricket Club University, the team has played sixteen first-class matches from 2010 to 2016.

Grounds

The five grounds that Oxford University have used for home first-class and List A matches since 1829 are listed below, with statistics complete through to the end of the 2014 season. Only the first-class and List A matches played at the ground by Oxford University are recorded in the table.

References

External links

Cricket in the ParksMCC Universities information & history
{{Authority control 1827 establishments in England

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Cricket in Oxfordshire English cricket in the 19th century Former senior cricket clubs Sports clubs established in 1827 Student cricket in the United Kingdom University of Oxford-related lists

History

Grounds

See also

References

External links