Date-stamped : 19 Jun96 - 22:16 The Universities, 1996 Oxford University v Worcestershire The Parks 6,7,8 June 1996 ====> REPORT Gupte grinds out another century By Ralph Dellor in The Parks (Day 2, 9 June 1996) Worcs(403-4 dec & 46-0) lead Oxford Univ (338-9 dec) by 111 runs AS if any confirmation was needed after Worcestershire`s display on the first day, the Oxford University batsmen illustrated that this pitch was not one on which to bowl. Worcestershire were forced to do so on another hot, sultry day for all but the last hour. As so often nowadays, captain Chinmay Gupte was the linchpin of the Oxford innings. He celebrated his 50th first-class match with his fifth, and highest, century, having recorded his 2,000th run during the previous match against Glamorgan. On that occasion he fell for 97 but this time, apart from a slightly nervous passage through the 90s, he batted with a calm authority offering not the slightest vestige of a chance. It might not have been a sparkling display of strokeplay but it was a monumental study in concentration lasting for nearly 5.5 hours during which he faced 287 balls and hit 14 fours. He put on 79 with Iain Sutcliffe for the first wicket and another 61 with Andrew Ridley, the Australian left-hander. Will Kendall, who has just returned to action after exams, scored a fluent half-century off 66 balls with a six and eight more boundaries before becoming the first of four victims for Matthew Church. Church had previously bowled only one over in the first team but, with the frontline bowlers not exposed to excessive work, he took his chance well. His medium pacers were accurate enough to suggest that he might get plenty of work in future, in one-dayers at least. He was one of eight Worcestershire bowlers to be used, while six of the students turned their arms over in the hour before the close. (No report for days 1 or 3) Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by William.Turrell (william@*.chaucer.ac.uk)