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The history of organised University cricket at Cambridge stretches back over 150 years, and for several decades towards the end of the nineteenth century the University team was ranked among the three or four best sides in the country. Although stricter admissions policies, the ever increasing importance of success in the tripos examinations and the growing professionalism of the game at its highest level have together reduced the importance of University cricket, the Cambridge XI, along with its Oxford counterpart, retains first-class status, remains capable of springing the occasional surprise on county sides and continues as of old to produce players of international calibre.
Students of Cambridge cricket will find much of interest in the archives. The earliest scoring books, membership and financial records cover periods crucial to the development of the club, while in more recent times, extensive correspondence of both Treasurer and Fixtures Secretary illustrate both the numerous problems involved in running a first-class cricket team with essentially amateur resources, and the many hours of devoted work put in by senior and junior club officials alike. Further, these correspondence files provide an interesting insight into the relations between various senior clubs and national institutions at the heart of English cricket: the Marylebone Cricket Club, and the Test and County Cricket Board.
The records catalogued as I/1-46, 90, II/1-6, III/1-82, IV-VIII were deposited by the Club in 1990; II/7-11, III/90-100 were deposited in 1996; I/47-52, 55-9, 101-2, 110-1 by G. Phillips [? on behalf of the Club] in 2007; II/11 (addnl), II/12, III/6 (addnl), IV/9-10 were deposited by John Pollard, Trinity Hall, in 2011. The records deposited by the Club are on indefinite loan. The records deposited by John Pollard are a gift.
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