The annual Willows BNL game has been a tightly contested tussle in the last couple of years, and this year proved no different. With The Willows choosing to bat in good weather conditions, the innings got off to a promising start thanks to Mike Hawke 25 and Grant Dickson 23. The innings stalled a little in the middle when Andrew Nuttall and Todd Sutton dried up the runs, but the Goatherders John and Bob Masefield came back strongly at the end to score 65 between them and take The Willows score to a respectable 160 for 6.

The weather started to play a role as dark clouds rolled in as the Bradley Nuttall innings got underway. Scott Rainey scored a belligerent 52, and then the rain started to fall!

The Willows bowlers battled bravely with Hamish Wright and Mike Hawke opening with accurate spells, followed by Bob and John Masefield then Grant Dickson and Craig Bayliss. The last 10 overs were completed in driving rain.

Jim Stringleman’s umpiring evened up the match by giving both captains out LBW, and with a couple of overs to go, BNL needed just 20 runs. Despite calls for a review of the number of overs bowled, BNL ran out of overs and finished 152/9.

A great result for the brave Willows team, and well done to Willows sponsors BNL.