Christchurch Boys’ High School won the toss and elected to bat. The Willows opened the bowling with M Farrant and M Parr who both bowled with excellent pace and control, extracting real life from the pitch. Runs trickled at barely two an over for the first ten but it was a credit to the opening batsmen, Stanley and Jordan who withstood this initial attack and laid the foundation for the middle order. First M Hay (89) then J Lewis (47) followed by S Forster (43 not out) accelerated the scoring and played excellent shots to all parts of the ground. School compiled an impressive and initially unlikely 264. M Farrant was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 37 but it has to be said the fielding effort left a lot to be desired with at least six dropped chances. Other handy bowling contributions came from F Hill and M Parr with two wickets apiece.

The Willows reply struggled against fine fast bowling from Jeffrey and Fairburn and wickets fell regularly, however the outstanding performance was H Cox who took 5 for 33. The only glimmer for The Willows came from F Hill who ended on 50 and really ran out of partners and could well have gone on to a much higher score. The remainder of the Willows batting line up faltered under the pressure of tight bowling and fielding limping through to 154 all out. It was great to have the School headmaster Nic Hill playing for us and the boys certainly relished the opportunity to bowl and bat against the head.

All in all an emphatic win for the boys and it is clear to see how they are performing so well locally and in the national Gillette Cup.