DCU Cricket Club make history - website exclusive

DCU cricket club made history by becoming the first university team to win both the indoor and outdoor cricket intervarsities in the same season.

The cricket club secured their status as Irish university champions after winning their first ever outdoor title in Dublin last summer.

The club which was founded three years ago also had three players selected for the Irish universities’ team.

For the outdoor competition there were 12 teams divided into four groups. Queens University Belfast (Queens) and Dublin Business School (DBS) were paired in the same group with DCU. The winner would qualify for the semi-finals.

DCU won their opening match in convincing style by 130 runs and bowled Queens out for 90 runs.

In the group decider against DBS the team showed amazing character to snatch victory from defeat and earn a place in the semis. At one point DBS were cruising at 60 runs for no loss before DCU staged a remarkable fight back to bowl them out for 120 runs.

For the semi-finals, the team faced pre-tournament favourites Trinity College on their home patch in College Park. A valiant team effort from DCU paid off as they stunned the hosts and won by 30 runs in what was a hard fought victory.

This set up an all-Dublin final clash with UCD, who had won the other semi-final against UCC.

In the final the DCU team recovered from a slow start and injuries to produce a fine bowling and catching performance to win the championship. Club captain Vipul Gargya finished it off by taking three wickets as UCD were all out for 83 runs making DCU Irish universities champions.

The DCU players selected for this year’s Irish universities’ squad were Mandeep Rathee, Theo Lawson and Vipul Gargya, who was also named vice-captain of the team.