A relatively youthful Willows XI assembled on Waitangi weekend for this well contested annual fixture against a well drilled Nelson College outfit under the guidance of head coach Garry MacDonald. The Willows captain Brad Doody won the toss and elected to bat in excellent conditions on a good batting wicket.

What followed was an excellent display of bowling and fielding from the Nelson side, headed by Jarrod McKay bowling at excellent pace snaring the first three wickets, two bowled and one caught at the wicket by Nic Clark. Only opener Oscar Wilson showed any real resistance but when he fell for 31 in the 21st over, the score was 63 for 6 which made the early dominance of the Nelson attack clear to see.

Further problems followed for The Willows when captain Brad Doody was forced to retire hurt with the first calf muscle tear in his illustrious career. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals; some late order resistance from A Bollard and Joseph Edgerton-Till “lifting” the score to 106 all out. All the Nelson bowlers acquitted themselves well. They all bowled with good control (seven of the wickets to fall were bowled) and were well backed up by astute captaincy and field setting.

As replacement captain (due to my increasing the average age of all participants), the plan was to attack and try as many options as possible to get amongst the Nelson top order. Edgerton-Till and Matt Hay toiled hard with good control but the fine batting on display limited the chances offered. David Zohrab backed up his half century in the 2016 fixture with a solid 36 not out, Tom Zohrab contributed 36 in good time, while Nic Clark scored five boundaries in his 23 not out to complete the rout. Nelson achieved the target in the 27th over, a dominant display.

Nic made mention that this was his first victory over The Willows in his time at Nelson College. We look forward to a closer battle next year.

Our best wishes to Nic, Tom and coach Garry who will take their place on The Willows tour to Sri Lanka later in the year.