The Commonwealth Scholars put together a very strong and enthusiastic squad which included an array of nationalities in true Commonwealth style. We lost the toss and were sent in to bat. Against some menacing opening bowling from two six-foot plus Rhodes openers, we lost a few early wickets and never recovered. Without the development of any serious partnership, our run scoring was restricted, save for a few late innings runs from Praveen Priyadarshi and Harri Kemp which saved us from total disaster. Bowled out after 21 overs, we managed to put together 74.

After lunch put on by the Rhodes team, we took to the field. Even with such a low score, we knew we were in with a chance if we could snare early wickets, which we did. Harri picked up one of their openers and Simon Breakspear ran out the other with an inspired direct hit from square leg. Rhodes’ next two batsmen survived with luck on their side, managing to bat out 12 overs which put them in a strong position on the scoreboard. During this period, Ashiq Tuhin and Premanand Patil bowled well but without much going their way. Immediately before the drinks break, however, we struck through Shaun Larcom’s fast-mediums, which was followed by a sharp slip catch taken by Samuel Du Rand off Harri’s bowling just after play resumed.

The Commonwealth effort in the field had been fierce and tight all day and the atmosphere for the new batters was testing, even at the end. In particularly, Soumyadeep Banerjee was the cause of great anxiety for the batters, fielding in their eye line at bat-pad. Julia Powles picked up a wicket at the death with her off-breaks, finding the batter out of his crease; Tanzil Rahman deftly picked up the stumping. But even with the introduction of Angella McNeil as our super-sub, we were unable to stop a fortuitous but intelligent Rhodes innings from overhauling our total with 5 wickets in hand. Congratulations must go to a well-captained Rhodes team who performed well under pressure. Rhodes now take the lead in the overall head-to-head standings: four wins to the Commonwealth’s three. Eric Knight from the Rhodes team picked up ‘man of the match’ for his contribution of 17 runs and 3 wickets.

After the match, both teams celebrated together with visitors from Oxford and around the country at the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission-hosted barbecue. The Warden of Rhodes House, Dr Donald Markwell, also a keen follower of cricket, conducted the award ceremony and presented the trophy.

Thank you to everybody that helped on the day. It was a fantastic day for everyone involved and we all look forward to getting one back next year. Finally, thank you to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission for generously funding and supporting participation in the day.

Joe Bartlett-Marques
Captain, 2009 Commonwealth Scholars XI