Player Profiles
Who is Darley's favourite cricketer? What does Babs like to drink? How does Paddy describe himself as a player? Find out the answers to these questions, and more, below...
To get your details up here, please email uniofficescc@admin.ox.ac.uk.
Dan Blakey
Nicknames
Stagecoach, Stagey, Gouty
Favourite cricketer
Tresco
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Either the knock against Computing Services in 2007 33 off 14 balls, or my catch in the final of the 2006 JC.
Favourite alcoholic drink
A good french red wine.
Other sports played
Rowing, back in the day...
Where you were born/grew up
North Devon
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
The current music of choice in our house is Jo Jingles... or the Tweenies
Your description of yourself as cricketer
More effort put in to batting and bowling than skill at either discipline
James Boon
Nicknames
Boony, Babs, Skidders
Favourite cricketer
Mike Atherton
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Hitting a lofted cover drive off Nickel, straight to a perfectly positioned Muppet for a simple catch. Only trouble is, Muppet dropped it... Scoring a ton (finally) on tour in 2008. Skippering the side to the Jack Cox final for two years in a row. Hitting my first ever ball for four. All the laughs, jokes, drinks, and top nights out, over the years...
Favourite alcoholic drink
Real ale, cider, single malt, gin'n'tonic, rum'n'coke. And meths.
Other sports played
Drinking, smoking
Other teams supported
Man Utd, Oxford Utd, England
Where you were born/grew up
Bedford, the town of the chav
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Radiohead / indie rock'n'roll and ambient electronica / Whatever - Oasis / The Bends - Radiohead
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Quick scoring batsman who frequently gets himself out, right arm death bowler with a penchant for hitting the stumps. Cover predator who's trying to turn himself into a slip fielder, because it involves less running.
Andy Darley
Nicknames
Salvador, Shoulders, Del Boy
Favourite cricketer
Kevin Pietersen
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Hitting 4 sixes vs Physics, 2007 Jack Cox, or getting my first 50 against OUP in ?2004?
Favourite alcoholic drink
Red wine
Other sports played
Poker (www.geocities.com/salvadorpoker), a bit of footie, cow tipping, chicken, knifey knifey, boule, hungry hippos, operation
Other teams supported
McLaren F1, Honda F1, Liverpool FC
Where you were born/grew up
Oxford
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Feeder, R.E.M., Radiohead, Indie-Rock, Times Like These, Foo Fighters, In Rainbows
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Opening fast bowler, currently losing speed and short of wickets. 30 or nowt number 5, 6, 7, or 8 batsman.
Gregor Douglas
Nicknames
Fingers, Waiting, Old Skip!
Favourite cricketer
Derek Randall
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Major falling off giants causeway / Andy Clarke (who??) takes catch for first ever victory, versus Bodlean in 2000 (I think)
Favourite alcoholic drink
Guinness
Other sports played
Pocket billiards
Where you were born/grew up
Norn Iron
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Chin music
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Bowling: slow; Fielding: see bowling; Batting: see Fielding. Think I was leading run scorer in 2002, and also in 2000 and 2001, though Psycho's stats don't seem to go back that far.
Dan Edwards
Nicknames
Boycott
Favourite cricketer
Boycott
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Scoring 50 against Offices
Favourite alcoholic drink
Wife Beater
Other sports played
Cricket, fishing, tennis, cricket
Where you were born/grew up
Cheshire
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Abba
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Boycott
David Emerson
Nicknames
Proggers
Favourite cricketer
Ian Smith
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Seeing Silky run for a ball for the first time. Babs forward defensive 6s. Dennis dipping his finger into a big pile of birdsh1t and sniffing it…
Favourite alcoholic drink
Lager, posh cider, red wine and Red Bull/vodka
Other sports played
Surfing, snowboarding, scuba diving and tussock jumping
Other teams supported
Coventry City FC, the All Blacks and the Brazilian Womens Beach Volleyball team (don’t ask me what any of their names are)
Where you were born/grew up
Wellington, New Zealand
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Early 90s indie – Jane's Addiction, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Pixies, stuff like that
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Erratic, but sometime effective slogger. Groin injuries throughout the season have hampered what could have been a meteoric rise to International level… Needs to concentrate on the game, more than the drinks afterwards… Like to have a laugh, mostly at myself… Enthusiastic Tourist!!!
Stephane Farenga
Nicknames
Stefan Dennis
Favourite cricketer
Daniel Vettori
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Getting boozed watching the Jack Cox (a number of memories there!)
Favourite alcoholic drink
White Russian
Other sports played
Basketball, baseball, football
Where you were born/grew up
Los Angeles
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Rock, metal, glam metal, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue
Your description of yourself as cricketer
"Aggressive" batter: see the ball, hit the ball! Right are medium bowling "tempting"...
Matthew Fleet
Nicknames
Admiral
Favourite cricketer
David Gower, Sachin Tendulkar
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Scoring my first run!
Favourite alcoholic drink
Gin & Tonic
Other sports played
Golf, tennis, footie (5-a-side)
Where you were born/grew up
Born in Kent, grew up in Suffolk
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
REM/ Coldplay
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Limited but enthusiastic
Andy Hallsworth
Nicknames
Housewives Favourite
Favourite cricketer
Trescothick, Jayasuriya, Rundle
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Personally, 25* and 2-10 in some JC match; Coney's procession of dropped catches and bad language.
Favourite alcoholic drink
Alcohol
Other sports played
footie, racket sports, snooker, darts, pool
Other teams supported
Argyle
Where you were born/grew up
Plymouth
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
CD [yes, CDs] collection stuck in 1997, oasis, pulp, sleeper etc
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Right arm accurate trundle, bat by numbers [block block hoick block hoick]
Chris Heron
Nicknames
Big Bird, Inspector Gadget
Favourite cricketer
Graeme Hick
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
The gratuitous sledging that only ever happens when I play against the Offices.
Favourite alcoholic drink
Any top-shelf cocktail
Other sports played
Squash
Where you were born/grew up
Deepest Bedfordshire
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Youth defining song was Another Boring B-side by The Morris Minors. It soundest best played at the wrong rpm….
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Bad with the good balls but good with the bad ones
Tom Malloy
Nicknames
Tanky
Favourite cricketer
Flintoff
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Belfast Tour
Favourite alcoholic drink
Carlsberg (but lets face it, he'll swill anything down his neck ................... I've caught him many a time eyeing up the toilet duck!)
Other sports played
football
Where you were born/grew up
Oxford
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Eminem (or any other 'lets pretend I'm a gangsta' rubbish music!)
Your description of yourself as cricketer
The next Flintoff!
Ross Mather
Nicknames
Velcro, Doggy Style, The Force (thanks skip)
Favourite cricketer
Graham Gooch, I always wished I could have a 'tash like that. Close second for Dickie Bird.
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
First game, first wicket, lovely catch by Tank.
Favourite alcoholic drink
So many forms of beer, Schlosser Alt from Germany, Old Hooky from Oxfordshire, Bishops Finger from Kent and Kasteel Triple from Belgium are personal favourites.
Other sports played
Rugby - past tense, Umpiring properly.
Where you were born/grew up
Born in Glasgow Scotland, grew up there. Lived in Holland for 15 years.
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
So many its scary, Mozart to Metallica and who could dislike the BBC cricket theme.
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Enthusastic in the field, once captained the worst team in Holland.
Patrick Mellor
Nicknames
Immune, BP
Favourite cricketer
None
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
The greatest catch of all time (in the guts)
Favourite alcoholic drink
A nice pint of vodka and tonic
Other sports played
5-a-side footy, used to play rugby (until it crippled me)
Where you were born/grew up
Born London, grew up Oxford
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
The Beatles, Brit Pop, Yesterday, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Shit
Jon Newman
Nicknames
Salad
Favourite cricketer
Simon Jones, Kevin Pietersen
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
My 33 runs off 32 delivery's whilst batting with Darley (who incidentally took an inordinate amount of time, balls, box shuffling, wiping sweat from brow etc to get to his 50 and may, come to think of it, have set a record for consecutive dot balls during that game) although I must confess that I forget who we were playing...
Favourite alcoholic drink
Chateaux LaFite '79 if someone else is buying - otherwise mine's a Guinness please. NB. Now that middle-age is sneaking up on me I find myself being strangely drawn to Marstons IPA (official brew for the ECB).
Other sports played
Snake wrestling, pocket billiards and the odd foray on a pool/snooker table. Have been known to win the occasional hand of Texas Hold'em.
Other teams supported
Liverpool FC, Ospreys and the England (& Wales) Cricket team.
Where you were born/grew up
Born in a stable (well maybe not!!) at RAF Wroughton and have yet to grow up. My formative years were spent in South Wales' suicide capital - Bridgend. This I hear you say, explains a lot and also shed's some light on why I have a soft spot for the Welsh (me Mam's from Neath)...
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Soundgarden, Audioslave, Zep, Hendrix, Monster Magnet, Stereophonics, Death in Vegas etc. Rock on you MoFo's!!! Current Fave Tracks: "Dirt" (Death in Vegas) and "Madame Helga" (Stereophonics).
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Non-genuine All-rounder, right arm vaguely accurate with occasional nip and the odd cameo with the bat ("odd" being the operative word...).
Joe Organ
Nicknames
Grinder, Salmon
Favourite cricketer
Hickster
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Probably Coney muscling in on someone else’s dolly catch, shouting ‘f+$% off that’s mine’ the, inevitably, dropping it. Then there’s the time Sula hit the roof – what a shot. I also hit a none-top edged six last summer at Uni Club, can’t remember who against. Any occasion when I was allowed to keep-wicket is winning memory for me. Going back to Coney, I remember him playing and missing six times in one over, I think against Blackwells.
Favourite alcoholic drink
red wine-not very manly
Other sports played
Football, hacky, badminton, cycling
Other teams supported
I support the underdog
Where you were born/grew up
Kidderminster – if ever you get a chance to go there, don’t
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
BAND: Pixies GENRE: DESERT ROCK! Song: Haitian Fight Song by Charles Mingus ALBUM: Electric Lady Land by Jimi Hendrix
Your description of yourself as cricketer
An outswinging medium pacer who’s getting old; a dull, grinding batsman who, despite being a weakling and a slow scorer, can hole up one end and give support to the Sachin’s of our team; takes the odd good catch. Bloody good umpire though.
Mark Rundle
Nicknames
Psycho, Fizzco, Chopper, Razor
Favourite cricketer
Gregor Douglas.....or Graham Thorpe
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Taking the first and only JC hattrick v Statistics, or maiden JC 50 v Pathology (when they were good!)
Favourite alcoholic drink
Stella Artois
Other sports played
Football
Where you were born/grew up
Oxford
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
RAWK!!!
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Love batting, like bowling, hate fielding
Ralph Smith
Nicknames
Ralphamale, The Ralph, Country Bumchin
Favourite cricketer
Marcus Trescothick, Brendon McCullum, Ralph Smith
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Getting 100 off 31 balls on debut!!??!!??
Favourite alcoholic drink
London Pride, Pimms
Other sports played
Rugby, Football, Table Football (untouchable)
Where you were born/grew up
Born Oxford, brought up in the sticks
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Power ballads, Neil Diamond
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Reliable accumulator with the bat, lightning fielder, partnership-breaking swing bowler.
Chris Sharpe
Nicknames
Razor, Riffer
Favourite cricketer
Ian Botham
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Taking four wickets in one game last Summer
Favourite alcoholic drink
Guinness
Other sports played
Karate, cycling
Where you were born/grew up
Born Lancashire grew up Cheshire
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Anything with a double layer of stringed instruments: Guitars; Fiddles; Cellos etc
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Happy to have had the experience of opening the bowling loads of times but still working on this feat for my batting
Jason Sula
Nicknames
Warpspeed
Favourite cricketer
The Simian (plays like I would like to be able to)
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Hitting a six and squash court roof against the University Club
Favourite alcoholic drink
Any spirit
Other sports played
Archery
Where you were born/grew up
Oxford born and bred
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Cricket legend (in his own head)
Chris Williams
Nicknames
Pops, Cinders
Favourite cricketer
Floyd Reifer
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
A monkey falling out of a tree, Newcastle 2007
Favourite alcoholic drink
Beer if sober, Sambuca if drunk
Other sports played
Tiddlywinks, Shove Ha'penny, Seal Clubbing
Other teams supported
The A Team
Where you were born/grew up
Born - Don't remember (might have been drunk), Grew Up - Hasn't happened yet!
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
The Nokia Ringtone
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Dashing young steady opening bat, and much under-used crap bowler.
Charles Wroth
Nicknames
Gramps.
Favourite cricketer
Derek Randall.
Favourite Offices cricketing memory
Hat-trick, got after five years "on a hat-trick".
Favourite alcoholic drink
Harvey's of Lewes.
Other sports played
Real tennis, fives.
Where you were born/grew up
Australia.
Favourite music (band/genre/song/album)
Umm... Telemann I guess at the moment.
Your description of yourself as cricketer
Can catch, so usually wicket-keeper. Often out Hit Wicket - that way I don't have to face a ball. If I'm batting number 2, my partner usually runs me out immediately to save me the trouble: "Yes -- no, wait -- oh go on then" all without moving from his crease.