On what was thought to be the hottest day ever at Jaguar Oval, The Willows elected to bowl first on a new strip. With a little greenness in the pitch and a relatively strong bowling line-up the St Andrew’s boys struggled to put together any real partnerships. All The Willows bowlers – Adrian McFedries, Alex McDuff, James Tapper and Paul Miller – bowled with good pace, line and length but it wasn’t until Luke Germon and Matt Parr were introduced to the attack that wickets really started to fall. Some of the boys got a start but no one went on to a big score. Only J Frew (23) and A Ongley (18) coped with the bowling.

St Andrew’s only managed 88. This score was reached with the loss of two wickets with Matthias Paltridge retiring on 43. All the bowlers bowled well but with The Willows only needing 89 it was always going to be a difficult total to defend.

It was an early finish on a very hot day but a day that the Gillette National title holders will learn from.