This year's Sports day was on
Tuesday the 6th of June 2006 at
Shenley Sports ground, and had the best turnout in memory, thank you to all that
participated! The cricket match
was won by the Students, see the match report below.
This year's pictures were taken by Davy Adriens and James Wilton-Ely, we hope you find some you like. As you can see, this year we managed to successfully organise events aside from cricket!
You can also find out what happened last year.
Sports Day 2006 Report
by Simon King
On a glorious day in June, a 70-strong group from UCL Chemistry Department
descended upon Shenley to attend what was billed as the most ambitious sportsday on record.
On this day some of the finest scientific minds in the capital swapped pens for willow,
lab coats for trainers, safety-specs for sun shades, to compete in a plethora of sporting
activities. The itinerary was completed by the promise of a barbecue, fully-licenced
bar and live set from rock new-comers Thirdlight.
The premier event of the day was the traditional Staff vs. Students cricket match.
With both sides having recorded 3 victories each in the past 6 years, matters could
not have been more evenly poised as the Staff elected to bat first in a 25-over affair.
Surprisingly, it was the Students who took the early initiative on a relatively
slow and unlively wicket. In only the second over seamer Sunny Sidhu (1-23)
found the outside-edge of Price (1) and wicketkeeper Fitzmaurice coolly took a routine catch.
The next breakthrough came just three balls later when Bailey (1-18) claimed the
off-stump of Sankar (6), the highlight of an impressive opening spell.
In a similar fashion King (1-27) rattled the off-stump of Binions (4) as the Staff
stumbled to 18-3 after just 5 overs.
Fortunes were soon to change, however, with the arrival of Hogarth and Wilton-Ely at the crease.
In an innings reminiscent to that of Gary Kirsten, Hogarth restored stability by patiently
advancing to 25 n.o., manoeuvring the strike and dispatching the occasional long-hop.
Meanwhile Wilton-Ely made a quick-fire 24 runs, before playing around a straight-delivery by Savio (1-17).
With his eye now set, Hogarth accelerated to an unbeaten 45 before retiring, whilst
retaining considerably more hair than his prodigy.
At 90-4, the pendulum swung further in favour of the Staff as the middle order of Parkin,
Rowley, and Lewis added a flurry of runs late on. Woefully, Parkin was dropped twice
early on in his hit-and-giggle innings of 47 (retired n.o.). At the other end, Rowley
was run out for only 4, before Lewis chipped in with a cultured 11 (retired n.o.),
helping advance the total to 158-5 after 23 overs.
With the Staff looking to press home their advantage in the final stages, attempts
to add significantly to the total were thwarted as Barnes and Vickers were
both dismissed
without troubling the scorers, the latter a deserved wicket for captain Sharma
(1-30). After 25 overs the Staff posted a respectable 168-8, leaving the students
a target of
169 to win (6.76 per over).
On a sun-baked afternoon, and with an exciting run-chase in prospect, Students’ opening
pairing of Fitzmaurice and Scott made for the middle. However, it soon became
apparent that a close and tense finale would not materialise as the Students
piled on runs from the offset.
Fitzmaurice began the account by dispatching Branford to the boundary for two
fours and a six in the first four deliveries of the innings. Similar blows
followed, Kaltsoyannis and
Champion the unfortunate victims, as the Students raced to 61-0 after only
6 overs. A tight spell by Sankar (0-23) provided some respite for the Staff
as man-of-the-match
Fitzmaurice raced onto an unbeaten 51 (retired n.o.), showing huge contempt
towards running between the wicket (46 runs came through boundaries).
Fitzmaurice was promptly replaced by Bisson, and the onslaught continued.
Nothing short of a UN sanction could have stopped the missiles leaving the
bat of Bisson
who rapidly made 40 (retired n.o.). Meanwhile Scott played a Boycott-esque
innings scoring 19 (retired n.o.), receiving little of the strike as the score
reached a towering 120-0 off only 13 overs.
With just 59 required from 72 balls the Students proceeded with steady knocks
by Sidhu (11 retired n.o.) and Sharma (15 retired n.o.), impressively reaching
153-0 after 20 overs,
without the loss of a single wicket.
The first breakthrough came in the 21st over when Parkin (1-13) clean-bowled
Thomas without scoring. There then followed a burst of activity as Binions
(2-9) captured the wickets of Bailey and
King in successive balls, capping a fine spell, to leave the Staff sniffing
a small scent of a potential miraculous victory. However, the Students also
sniffed a scent of matters far
more urgent, specifically the impending barbecue, with the score at 159-4 after
22 overs.
With renewed purpose Taroni and Hamed entered the arena. First Taroni hammered
a four off of Parkin, followed by some sharply-taken singles to advance the
score to 167-4. For the final act,
the stage was set for cricket-debutant Hamed to finish the match in style,
and he duly obliged with a blow through mid-wicket of which Flintoff would
have been proud.
Although the Students won by 6 wickets, howls of delight and celebration were
also heard from the Staff upon leaving the field, heading directly towards
the pavilion bar.
The winners’ trophy and runner-up presentations were made by Prof. Richard
Catlow.
Refreshed and re-fuelled following the barbecue, UCL Chemistry’s (prime athletes)
headed for the soccer pitches to contest a six-a-side tournament. The format
was simple:
One league, five teams, four 10-minutes matches to be played by each; A year
of justified bragging for the winners. With Sven Goran-Eriksson monitoring
events from a helicopter above,
scouting for potential World Cup squad inclusions, the tournament proceeded
as officiated by Graham Hogarth and Paul Barnes.
After an hour of gruelling action the Postgrads emerged as victors, unbeaten
in all of their fixtures. Thus far, claims of an illegal ‘tapping-up’ of top-scoring Italian striker T(ar)oni
remain unsubstantiated. With the Staff and 2ndyears’ ‘Useless’ tied in second
place each with four points, it was the Staff who claimed runners-up after
a penalty shoot-out,
despite the heroics of the Useless goalkeeper.
The final standings of the soccer tournament are shown below:
Pos |
Team |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
Pts |
1 |
Postgrads |
3 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
7 |
2 |
Staff |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
Useless |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
Cupid Stunts |
0 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
Caddick Team |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
As the sun began to set on a glorious summer evening, one final opportunity
to enter the Departmental hall of fame/shame (delete as appropriate) remained.
The tug-of-war was
contested between the 1st years and the Post Grads, amazingly so, as by this
time many members of the former team struggled to align in a straight line
along the rope.
Final score: 2-3 to the Postgrads.
As a fitting climax to a fun day, 4-man rock-band Thirdlight played an hour
long set in the Pavilion. Opening with the sublime U2-esque ‘Feeling High’, and future hits ‘Boxed In’ and the England
World Cup prelude ‘You’ve Got It All To Lose’, it is surely only a matter of
time before these London lads are nominated for the Mercury Prize.
To download Thirdlight tracks visit their website:
www.myspace.com/thirdlight.