Cambridge University Cricket Club

Cambridge University

Cambridge University Cricket Club
Personnel
Captain	Hari Kukreja (Men's) Issy Routledge (Women's)
Coach	Sam Rippington (men)
Team information
Founded	1820; 204 years ago (1820)
Home ground	Fenner's
History
First-class debut	Cambridge Town Club in 1817; 207 years ago (1817) at Parker's Piece, Cambridge
Official website	cucc.net

Cambridge University Cricket Club, established in 1820, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. Depending on the circumstances of each individual match, the club has always been recognised as holding first-class status. The university played List A cricket in 1972 and 1974 only.^[1] It has not played top-level Twenty20 cricket.

With some 1,200 members, home matches are played at Fenner's. The club has three men's teams (Blues, Crusaders and the Colleges XI) and one women's team (from the incorporation of Cambridge University Women's Cricket Club (CUWCC) in 2000) which altogether play nearly 100 days of cricket each season. The inaugural University Match between Cambridge and Oxford University Cricket Club was played in 1827 and the match was the club's sole remaining first class fixture each season until 2020.^[2]

The club has also operated as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (Cambridge UCCE) which included players from Cambridge University and was Anglia Polytechnic University, now Anglia Ruskin University. This was re-branded as the Cambridge MCC University (Cambridge MCCU) prior to the 2010 season, when its governance was transferred from the England and Wales Cricket Board to MCC. Both male and female teams played in the British Universities & Colleges Sport competitions and the men also took part in the MCC Universities Championship and Twenty20 competitions. In 2020, the MCCU competitions were cancelled due to Coronavirus restrictions and funding from MCC ceased. The MCCU teams played in 2021 as UCCEs once more, but Cambridge UCCE did not continue after 2022. Cambridge University Cricket Club, without support from ARU, continues to compete in the BUCS National League against other UCCEs, with players selected only from Cambridge University.

The club also oversees and manages the annual inter-college 'Cuppers' cricket competition.

The earliest reference to cricket at the University of Cambridge is in 1710. A Cambridge University team played against an Eton College team in 1754 and 1755, although those were minor matches. It is not known whether the Eton teams were of present or past pupils. Cambridge University began an annual series against Cambridge Town Club, which evolved into the original Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club, on 30 May 1817.^[3] It is with this game that both teams first acquired first-class status.

All Cambridge teams play annual matches against Oxford as well as other matches throughout the Lent and Summer terms. The first team four-day University Match retained its first-class status until 2020 and alternates between being held at Fenner's and The Parks. The one-day matches for men and women are currently played at Arundel. The Crusaders play a three-day game against the Authentics as well as one-day and Twenty20 games.