It was another beautiful day at The Willows as Shirley Boys’ High School won the toss and chose to bowl on a hard, green wicket. The Willows had a strong side with a number of old boys, so Shirley Boys’ would have been pleased to get an early wicket and have The Willows at 9/1. However a good partnership of 75 between Craig Gibb and Jeremy Duncan turned things around. Gibb’s dismissal for 29 brought Brad Entwistle to the crease to do battle against his brother Ryan. The older brother won that battle and with solid contributions from both Regan Sheahan and Fraser Hill saw The Willows through to 258. Tanurag Singh, Todd Ehau, Connor McLaughlin and young spinner Ekamjot Singh all bowled well but lacked penetration.

After lunch the Shirley Boys’ Headmaster, Tim Grocott took the new ball alongside youngster Zac Buist. Zac applied the pressure from one end which the Headmaster benefitted from and managed to grab 3/22 at the other end which put Shirley Boys’ on the back foot. Nick Johnston with his ’keeping and Tom Music with his chat kept the pressure on behind the wicket. Connor Arnold and Dan Vann bowled well through the middle and despite solid batting from Connor McLaughlin and Alex Trowbridge they were not able to score enough runs and were eventually out for 137.

Thanks to umpires Gary Hall and Jim Stringleman, and also scorer Anne McLeod. Finally, a particular thanks to Mike Dormer who spoke very kindly at the beginning of the day in memory of John Grocott who had recently passed away. John was a great supporter of The Willows, Shirley Boys’ High School, and cricket in general.