Oxford deliver goods in limited affair

Cambridge University 177-8 Oxford University 178-2 Oxford University win by eight wickets

Oxford strolled to a straightforward eight-wicket victory in the Varsity Match here yesterday. For the first time ever, they did so in a single-innings match, with 11 overs to spare. After 174 years in which the fixture had remained a two or three-day first-class game, this Varsity Match was a limited-overs affair.

An overcrowded Lord's fixtures list – and a desire to reverse declining attendance by making the day part of the London social calendar – were the catalysts for the change, though the thousand or so who braved a grey Lord's may not immediately have noticed anything different.

After winning an important toss, Neil Millar, the Oxford captain, was able to set attacking fields well past the 15-over mark as the ball moved generously under ashen skies. Batsmen were more intent on survival than run-scoring, and the entertainment, such as it was, resembled the attrition more characteristic of the longer form of the game than supposedly livelier one-day contests.

Cambridge did not pass fifty until the 20th over, by which time they had lost four wickets, three to the medium pace of Alan Gofton, who took them at no cost in his second and third overs. It meant that the Cambridge captain Ben Collins, arriving at 11 for 3, had to knuckle down, and although he and Stuart Block, initially living up to his name, put on 71 for the fifth wicket, they did so slowly.

Once Collins was out for a subdued 37 off 88 balls, Block came out of his shell, and hit a couple of sixes to the short Tavern boundary. He was eventually bowled hitting across the line for an enterprising 65.

Needing 178 to win, Jamie Dalrymple – who had taken two wickets – threatened to bring matters to a swift conclusion before playing on for 16. His partner, Richard Smalley, dropped on nought and 51, hit an increasingly confident, unbeaten 75. He was well supported by Stephen Hawinkels, who scored an elegant fifty that included eight fours.

With the men's match finishing early, attention turned to the women's game played, also for the first time, on the Nursery Ground. Had Cambridge played Jodie Collins rather than making her drinks carrier, a brother and sister would, uniquely, have appeared at Lord's – albeit in different games – simultaneously. Cambridge won by six wickets.