Having played this game last season and suffered defeat, I was more than keen to captain against what I knew would be a very strong King’s side, given they have won their three previous encounters at The Willows.

The Willows side looked strong on paper and in spite of a couple of key withdrawals I was very happy with our line up on the day. After winning the toss I had no hesitation in batting first on what looked like an excellent surface and very fast outfield.

Our openers Mark Reid and Paul Miller got off to a solid start, with Mark going on to be the backbone of our innings scoring a well-deserved 100. Despite an arm injury early in his innings he still managed to hit two very powerful sixes over long on, and played some sublime back foot cuts as he approached his 100. He was well supported throughout by Ryan James (24), Callum Curnow (41) and Hayden Day with 25 not out.

So at 50 overs 238 looked like a very defendable score, knowing that we also had a more than useful bowling attack. Opening up with young Ryan James we had immediate success with two early wickets. Bowling full and straight he proved very effective.

Kyle Burns the King’s captain batting at number four looked to turn the tide somewhat with some powerful offside driving and while he was at the crease King’s HS always looked threatening. However two of the more experienced Willows bowlers in Nigel Marsh and Stan Woolliscroft put the brakes on very effectively by taking wickets and bowling great lines. When Stan had Kyle LBW for a very well-played 79 it looked like job done. His team did go on to score 195/9 but in the end it proved a comfortable win for The Willows.