A mostly youthful and polished Willows team batted first against a Waimea College XI who had travelled from Nelson for this annual fixture. The visitors were immediately challenged with the first six Willows batsmen all scoring between 20 and 44. Darrin Entwhistle, opening, built a well compiled 33 before being brilliantly run out by Ramola. Dave Kelly, as always, contributed a solid 44 including eight fours and Cameron Belliss patiently anchored the innings, sharing in some good partnerships and scoring 42 runs. Wickets were shared amongst the seven bowlers used although The Willows score of 240/8 proved to be formidable.

The Waimea boys found it hard against The Willows bowlers and unfortunately none managed to anchor an innings. The team was dismissed for 93. Top score was contributed by The Willows bowlers with 19 wides. Cameron Belliss also shone with the ball collecting 5/18 off his six overs and was awarded a well-deserved man of the match.

It is never easy to travel such a distance for a Willows fixture and Waimea College can be proud of the way the boys conducted themselves on and off the field. Almost all will be back in 2018 and, with another year’s experience, I’m sure they will put up a strong performance.