Cricket: Flawless Fleming pinches the glory

British Universities 204 Kent 205-4 Kent win by 6 wickets

A TEAM can ask little more of its pinch hitter than that he scores a match-winning century at more than a run a ball. Matthew Fleming's performance gave the students a severe lesson, but provided rich entertainment for a large crowd at Oxford yesterday.

There had been little doubt at the outset that Kent would sail through to the quarter-finals - their run rate would have far exceeded Somerset's even if the Universities had added their scalp to that of Gloucestershire in these qualifying skirmishes. Fleming's broad bat made such calculations irrelevant and Kent's anticipated victory duly arrived soon after five o'clock

After the Universities' captain, Anurag Singh, had chosen to bat on the benign Parks wicket, the Kent seamers, Alan Igglesden and Ben Phillips, gave him early cause for regret. Even though Dean Headley had been reserved for drinks duties and Martin McCague was injured, their colleagues were still able to reduce the students to 45 for 4 by the 15th over.

The recovery was heartening indeed - a 98-run alliance between Mark Chilton, who is on Lancashire's books, and his fellow Durham University student Luke Sutton, who keeps wicket for Somerset second XI.

It was largely a scampered affair, but decorated with sumptuous blows from both young men, unfazed by the strength of the opposition. In restoring their side to respectability they both recorded their highest scores in this competition. When Chilton missed an attempted huge hit over the head of Kent's left-arm spinner Min Patel, Andrew Strauss kept the momentum going and saw the students beyond the 200 benchmark.

Mark Ealham and the tall, brisk Phillips were the pick of an efficient Kent bowling display. The students' morale was boosted at the start of their second over when Trevor Ward fell lbw to Ben Hutton's loosening long-hop, but then Fleming and the pugnacious Matthew Walker put the first innings in perspective by striking 90 off just 12 overs.

The second successive duck at the Parks for Carl Hooper, followed by Graham Cowdrey's swift departure, perked up the students for whom the spinners Greg Loveridge - who has played a Test for New Zealand - and Michael Davies kept commendably cool heads while completing their overs off the reel. But once Ealham showed he was in the same mood as Fleming, reaching 50 with the winning run, the result was inevitable.