Sheffield Hallam University ran out 2-0 victors at the men’s cricket varsity at Hallam Sports Park on Wednesday.
The two comfortable wins helped them replicate last year’s feat and retain the title of varsity champions.
This was greeted with delight by those of a Hallam persuasion watching on, as they chanted: “Sheffield Uni, it’s happened again.”
Men’s 2s:
The University of Sheffield batted first in the men’s 2s and managed a total of 77 runs. They failed to fulfil their 10 over allocation, which was to prove decisive.
Despite Uni of keeping it tight to begin with, Hallam did not make the same mistake as their opponents and kept wickets in hand, building several strong partnerships.
Uni of were hampered by the fact Anshul Balaji, who bowled a tight first over, had to go off with a finger injury and could not bowl again.
Several players were afforded the luxury of retiring for Hallam and allowing one of their teammates to come in for a hit. They never looked like not chasing the total and cruised to the victory with four balls and five wickets left in the end.
After the game, Sheffield Hallam captain Tom Travis said: “We’ve had a very difficult year with our indoor league being cancelled, so to come to varsity it’s such a special feeling to make it two years in a row after such a history of the University of Sheffield winning.”
Men’s 1s:
When it came to the men’s 1s, it was Hallam’s turn to set a target.
Hallam started cautiously again and prioritised keeping wickets in hand, only losing one wicket to a Nathaniel Hunter caught and bowled with the score at 34-1.
Several strong performances with the bat allowed players to retire and rotate, with Arron Armitage shining.
Hallam looked like they might get to an unassailable total with 102 on the board with an over to go, but two further Nathaniel Hunter wickets in the last over restricted the score to 105-3.
This was always likely to prove difficult to chase to regain the varsity title, but uni of did make a solid start, getting to 36 before losing their first wicket.
However, this allowed the floodgates to open, inspired by pace bowler and captain Janu Wewalwala who removed one batter with a drag-on with the score at 45-2, before removing the leg stump of another Uni of batter at 57-3.
57 was to prove an unlucky number for Uni of, as two run outs caused the score to collapse further to 57-5, pretty much finishing the game on the spot.
The remaining batters were able to work the score up to 78, before the game ended with another run out and the title was retained by Hallam via a 27-run victory.
After the game, Wewalwala praised the “unreal atmosphere” from the Hallam crowd and said he was “incredibly proud of the hard work” from the Hallam players.
There were scenes of delight from the Hallam group after retaining their men’s varsity clean sweep, in a game that was played in a competitive varsity spirit that defines the rivalry between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam.
The overall varsity score prior to the day stood at 35-14 to the University of Sheffield so those two points would have been very much welcomed by Sheffield Hallam.
