With the 2018 fixture having been cancelled due to poor weather, the hot dry conditions that greeted the teams this year couldn’t have been more different.

With an early start time and reduced overs to allow the SBHS players to catch an early flight home The Willows asked the visitors to bat first. There may have been a school of thought the conditions would play into the home team’s hands. How wrong that proved to be!

SBHS approached their innings with positive intent looking to score well from the outset. A couple of early wickets pegged them back however Benji Culhane and Hayden Hart put together a 100 run partnership. The visitors were looking at a formidable target before some tight death bowling restricted their score to 203/7 off 40 overs.

The game brought a number of familial connections across both teams and it was only a dropped catch by Jack Mockford, much to the delight of his younger brother and bemusement of his father, that denied the scorers the chance of entering Mockford c Mockford b Mockford!

With a fast outfield The Willows team felt the target was very achievable, however against some disciplined SBHS bowling this would prove not to be the case with the hosts falling 64 runs short. In all, it was a well-deserved win which enabled an extremely organised group of young cricketers to make their flight with plenty of time to spare!