After missing the text that the game was to begin 30 minutes early and Paul Rutludge being remiss in not telling me I was captain, things started pretty frantically. Brad Doody kindly filled in to toss the coin and after calling correctly asked Whanganui Collegiate to bat. Unfortunately he could not be persuaded to carry on from a successful coin toss and handed the reins back over!

The Willows started strongly with Fraser Sheat proving hard to play. He bowled extremely accurately taking 3 for 22 off his ten straight overs. At 50/4 the innings was in the balance but A Halbert and C Robson came together and played extremely well. Both timed the ball beautifully and when Halbert was out for 56 they had carried the score to 143. Robson then continued on in fine form finishing off the innings 83 not out and Whanganui Collegiate posted a very defendable total of 219/6. Wickets were few and far between but Alex Reese and Ben Laughton proved very economical.

The Willows got off to a shaky start losing two quick wickets before Brad Doody (40) and Grant Dickson (34) in his first appearance for The Willows steadied the ship. At 98/2 the platform was well set before Brad and Grant fell in quick succession. This sparked a major collapse with the final eight wickets falling for 32 runs with some fantastic spin bowling by A Halbert with 5/22 completing a fine match double. It must be said the Whanganui Collegiate side were a very good all round side and very composed for a schoolboy team.