After 20 years of fixtures between The Willows and the Peninsula Craz, the time has finally come when the ageing Craz have admitted that their best years are behind them! Much to the chagrin of The Willows founder, the standard match format was altered by mutual agreement between the respective captains to 40 overs and various other levellers. This in the end resulted in a great contest, but one where The Willows proved to be too strong.

After winning the toss The Willows chose to bat first and kicked off with a great first wicket partnership of 97 between Tim McConnell and James D’Arcy. Both retired at the mutually agreed 50 runs. That brought to the wicket the svelte looking Michael Singleton and Christchurch Boys’ High Headmaster Nic Hill, who both batted responsibly continuing to add to The Willows total. It was the bowling of the Craz spinners and slow bowlers that kept The Willows onslaught in check. While Graeme Inglis did not trouble the scorers, The Willows middle order of Glenn Davis (on debut) and Gareth Reed took the total to 198 after 40 overs, with Nic Hill remaining unbeaten on 27 after almost an hour at the crease.

In response, the Craz managed to keep up with the required run rate; but they also continued to lose wickets. 9/1 became 28/2, and with the big wicket of stalwart Danny Bulman, the Craz were in trouble at 39/3. Despite a fine fourth wicket partnership between Brain and Breitmeyer taking the Craz score over 100, wickets continued to fall and eventually they were dismissed in the 35th over with The Willows victorious by 26 runs.

Pick of the bowlers for The Willows were (as usual) the miserly Andrew Nuttall with figures of 2/14 from 8, and making up for his failure with the bat Graeme Inglis with 3/19 from 3. Also impressive was Glenn Davis bowling his first ball in 15 years, taking 1/17 from 4. As usual Tim McConnell was tidy behind the stumps with four dismissals.

And so another great match between the ‘Goat Herders’ and The Willows came to its conclusion. This is always a great occasion and one the older members of both clubs enjoy. In many ways it is sad to see the decline of the Craz – gone are the days of the post match all nighter at the Casino; gone are the long run ups and the diving catches; gone are the quick singles and the threes. But what remains is still a love of the game and the enjoyment of spending a Sunday running around with old mates. See you next year.