Once again it was an honour to captain The Willows against Wellington College. I have played this fixture for the last few years and it is always one of the more challenging and enjoyable matches. Visiting skipper Hugh Morrison won the toss and decided to bat, which I was more than happy with.

Max Rogers (35 off 31) started the innings in aggressive fashion riding his luck between some wonderful shots. Sam French, batting at three, made a well compiled 69 and held the middle order together. Oscar Jackson played well for his 51 also. Wellington College ended up on 206/8 off their 50 overs. Hugo Davison bowled very well for his 3/45 as did Tom McClean and I can’t forget the evergreen and ever dependable Richard McGuire who bowled 8 overs for 15 runs.

At the innings break I thought 206 was a gettable target. Fraser Buckley and myself got The Willows off to a good start; losing Fraser for 25 with the score at 60 in the 12th over. Then unfortunately it was a middle order collapse going from 1 for 60 to 7 for 116. Lachie Stove and Tom McClean started a fightback with a solid 45 run partnership. However with the loss of Tom at 179 we were in big trouble and ended up getting knocked over for 184. Wellington College bowled very well, with five bowlers all taking wickets. For me it a pleasure batting against Max Petrie, as I played against his father Richard when he was at Sydenham. I can say for sure Max had a little less to say between balls… Max is certainly a talent.

I would like to thank Tim Parlane and Dave Quested for umpiring; it is not often you get two gents of such a calibre standing in the middle. And thanks to Gail McGowan for scoring; she is a delight to have around. The other highlight was once again seeing Nigel de Maine using his 1980’s era Duncan Fearnley Magnum cricket bat which was certainly older than all the boys in the Wellington College side and probably half of The Willows side. Well done to Hugh and his team on their victory.