The annual fixture with the lads from the sunny north is always a great day and this year did not disappoint. The fixture was adjusted to 40 overs given the mammoth same day drive. The Willows won the toss and elected to bat which instantly backfired with The Willows 1 for 0. The ship steadied and Kelvin Scott built a terrific partnership with Jason Middlemiss to move the total to 120 for two with Kelvin retiring with a brilliant century. Seemingly, the rest of The Willows batting line up had been sitting inactive for a bit too long in the pavilion and we did a wonderful job of keeping Marlborough Boys’ keen by finishing 198/8 — J Pannell collecting 4 for 31 in a fine bowling spell.

The chase got off to a similar start with the home team having Marlborough 1 for 0, 2 for 4, 3 for 5 and 4 for 10 with A Singh doing the early damage for The Willows. The game was at risk of finishing early with a total collapse imminent but young Collins battled away for a very patient 81 and the middle order support ensured 36 of the 40 overs were batted. Marlborough were all out for 154 but the real success was the recovery and tenacity shown to battle on and not give up. It got a lot closer than anyone in The Willows side had envisaged, and it took some tight bowling to bring the game under control.

As always it was a terrific day, plenty of fun was had and the drive back north would have been all the easier knowing the tenacity the team had shown. We look forward to next season.