Greetings friends! Hope you all had a good Christmas this week. Anyway, our final blog posting of 2024 and, as usual, we'll be looking at the first week of this year's Christmas UC, including tonight's match. A pretty good first week as well, though I must say that, after a somewhat Paxo-esque performance last year, AR has been more like his usual gentler self this year so far; make of that what you will. Anyway, let's do this...
Monday 23rd: Warwick vs Durham
Warwick: Mimi Fawaz, Syma Khalid, Yomi Adegoke, Huma Qureshi
Durham: Liz James, Tracey Macleod, Carla Denyer, Sophie Smith Galer
A very one-sided start to the series, with Durham absolutely dominant on the buzzers, with three of their four players getting four starters right, and a very impressive showing on the bonuses too. Warwick were restricted to just two starters all night, though they did get all but one of their bonuses right to be fair. Durham won 265-35, and are so far the red hot favourites for this week's semis.
Tuesday 24th: Worcester Oxford vs Bristol
Worcester: Glyn Maxwell, Alice Jolly, Tom Parker-Bowles, Peter Barnes
Bristol: Danny Robins, Briony May Williams, Paul Boateng, James Stewart
A much closer contest this time, with Worcester leading for the most part, but Bristol put up a good battle. Ultimately, Worcester won it thanks to, again, a team effort of the buzzer, three of their four player getting three starters each. Worcester won the game 155-105 and will also definitely be returning for the semis.
Thursday 26th: Manchester Metropolitan vs Brighton
Manchester Met: Lee Chambers, Vicky Tolfrey, Debra Stephenson, Rachel Mann
Brighton: David Taylor, Hannah Berry, Adam Pearson, Chris Riddell
A match of three thirds this one: Brighton raced into a strong early lead in the first, before Manchester Met pulled back in the second, before a fairly evenly matched third saw Brighton hold on to secure the victory. Credit to Ms Mann for a very impressive individual total of seven starters which largely kept her team in the game. Brighton won 135-110, which I suspect probably won't be enough to bring them back, but we'll see.
Friday 27th: Leeds Trinity vs Nottingham
Leeds Trinity: Harpz Kaur, Mobeen Azhar, Lauren Layfield, Dorothy Koomson
Nottingham: Rutendo Shackleton, Clive Tyldesley, Yasmin Ali, Lynn Saunders
A pretty even contest indeed, with a couple of extra starters ultimately winning it for Nottingham, though Leeds Trinity actually fared a bit better on the bonuses. Nottingham won 115-100, and sadly are definitely not coming back in the semis.
Sunday 29th: Southampton vs Churchill Cambridge
Southampton: Benjamin Pritchard, Tom Jubert, Justine Greening, Nathan Robinson
Churchill: Catherine Green, Diarmaid MacCulloch, Helen Czerski, Spencer Kelly
And finally tonight's match, and a slight reversal of Friday's, in that Southampton got one starter more than their opponents, but Churchill fared considerably better on the bonuses, getting exactly two thirds of theirs correct. Southampton started better before Churchill pulled away, only for Southampton to pull back. The Cambridge side recovered to keep themselves in front though. Churchill won 150-120 and I would guess that'll be good enough to bring them back.
So, Durham and Worcester are definitely coming back next week and I would say Churchill probably will be too. Whatever happens, hopefully the second week will be just as good as the first.
Back next weekend with my review of the second week; until then, thanks once again for reading and supporting the blog this year, have a safe and Happy New Year, and sayonara...
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