A glorious Canterbury spring day and a flat, bare looking pitch greeted the players and a fair sprinkling of supporters for the Marlborough Boys’ fixture. After inspecting the excellent wicket, a number of The Willows side declared that they were “batsman-only” and were looking to bat reasonably high in the order!

The Willows made first use of benign batting conditions and after an early wicket, players and supporters were treated to an exhibition by Fraser Sheat (101 retired), his first century for The Willows, and Dave Kelly (104 retired) for the second wicket. Both players worked the ball around well, running hard between the wickets and taking full toll of any loose balls. A couple of booming cover drives from Dave were worth the price of admission.

The final few overs offered little respite for the College with David Wakefield hitting a very entertaining 79 not out from just 59 balls. I was fortunate to witness most of this innings from the non-striker’s end and was very impressed by the clean striking and the fact that most of the runs came in boundaries. The Willows finished with 346 for 3 from its 50 overs.

Set a daunting target, the College were always going to be up against it. Ma’ara Ave batted very well and showed sound technique and temperament for his 60. However, it was a lone hand in the face of some steady bowling with Jacob Wolt leading The Willows attack taking 4 for 25 from his 10 overs. Jacob was well supported by the other bowlers and in the field as the College made 159 for 8 in reply.

The match was played in excellent spirit and both the College and Willows teams and supporters mixed well after the match, enjoying the fine late evening conditions and barbecue.

My thanks to Jim, Mike and the many helpers that go into putting on a match. As ever, they did a superb job. My thanks also to The Willows team. It was a pleasure to play alongside you and I look forward to seeing you next year for the Marlborough Boys’ College fixture.

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