Date-stamped : 06 Jul95 - 14:27 University match: Cake gorges himself on Oxford attack By Ralph Dellor at Lord's First day of three: Cambridge Univ 284-8 v Oxford Univ ANYONE who went to Lord's expecting to witness a day of cavalier cricket to celebrate the start of the 150th University Match would have suffered a great disappointment. However, those numerous occupants of the boxes on the short Tavern side of the ground who appreciated a hard-fought, absorbing encounter, must have been thoroughly satisfied. The humid, overcast conditions were the sort to entice any captain winning the toss to field first. Once Andy Whittall had seen a slow, true pitch, which could turn in the fourth innings, such temptations were eliminated and he chose to bat. The Oxford attack found that the ball would swing in the opening session, but not if it was banged in short on an unresponsive surface. The bowlers failed to do themselves justice and were punished accordingly. Reimall Ragnauth and David Churton successfully selected the balls to hit in the ragged array presented to them and compiled the best Cambridge opening stand of the season. They had put on 57 by the 20th over, when Ragnauth attempted to cut a ball perhaps a little too close to him and offered Justin Ricketts his first catch at slip. Ricketts came into the attack with his leg-breaks, and saw Churton push a catch to silly mid-off immediately before lunch. That brought Russell Cake to the middle to join John Ratledge. Ratledge suffered the ignominy of a king pair in this fixture last year, so his risky first run was understandable. These two proceeded without alarm to a century partnership which appeared to give the day a distinct Light Blue edge. The hue was to change significantly once Ratledge was picked up at short third man off the left-arm opening bowler, David Mather. Mather suffered particularly heavy punishment, as Cake went from 68 to 90 in four balls - 6, 4, 6, 6. He had little time to be nervous in the nineties, reaching a hundred which contained 10 fours and five sixes. His second fifty came from only 44 deliveries, confirming the flair that he had shown when taking a thrilling century off the 1993 Australian attack. Cake's century capped a good term, as he also secured a starred First in his engineering studies, one of only four such honours bestowed by the university. He fell to a low catch at square leg by Ricketts to give Iain Sutcliffe his first first-class wicket. Ricketts joined Sutcliffe in an all leg-spin attack, picking up two more wickets before Richard Yeabsley and Angus Mac Robert shared the new ball with some effect to swing the day slightly in Oxford's favour by stumps as Cambridge allowed a promising position to slip away. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)