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From Magdalen to Merger: A Short History of Oxford University Cricket Club
Peter Davies
Church in the Market Place Publications
2005 saw the publication of a couple of books that, in turn, chronicled the histories of Britain's two most famous university teams. Starting first with Peter Davies` book on the Dark Blues, a few eyebrows may have been raised amongst the 'Dreaming Spires' - especially in this era of fast food, speed-dating and alleged dumbing-down in public exam questions - by the publication of a paperback that has condensed the rich cricketing history at Oxford into just 90 pages - and all without a scorecard in sight of any of the famous victories over Cambridge!

But this is, as the title points out, a short history - not one in which there is chapter and verse on the glorious deeds of the Dark Blues, and detailed accounts of varsity Matches and wins over touring teams. These already exist elsewhere and instead this slim volume is one that can be read and digested within a couple of hours (or a train journey from Cardiff to London, as enjoyed by this reviewer!), allowing the reader to gain a broad overview about the development from its early years as the Magdalen Club to the recent merger with Oxford Brookes and the creation of the Oxford UCCE team.

The lack of photographs or other illustrations, apart from the image of the pavilion at The Parks on the front cover, might suggest an arid read, but this is certainly not the case. Instead, the text – written by a professional Historian and Senior Lecturer at the University of Huddersfield – is deftly decorated with quotes from leading figures and other primary sources, whilst the closing chapters and postscript are illuminated by some interesting comments by recent Oxford UCCE players, who the author has interviewed.