Greeted by a lovely day of 28 degrees, The Willows XI won the toss and batted first. The brand new pitch had a green tinge to it with a little bit of moisture on top. The Waimea College bowlers had immediate success reducing The Willows to 11 for 3.

The Willows team then had Eddie Commons come to the wicket to join opening batsman Ryan Jones and they compiled a splendid partnership of 172 runs for the fourth wicket. This gave confidence to a fired-up Willows team as they passed the 250 mark which was the highest score from The Willows team since the start of the season.

Despite an early wicket from Chris O’Connell in the second over of the innings the Waimea boys put on an outstanding display, batting well in partnerships and applying themselves maturely. The fourth wicket partnership of 163 was a matchwinning one with Field (63 not out) and Weir (77 not out) both still at the crease when the winning runs were posted. Bowling and fielding were tough in the hot conditions and no bowler took more than one wicket.

Congratulations to the Waimea College boys on a very, very good victory in the heat in what turned out to be excellent batting conditions! They travelled after their Saturday fixture and arrived at their accommodation in Amberley late on Saturday night and played against The Willows and then straight back in the team bus for the trip home to Nelson. I bet the lads would have been extremely tired and quiet on the way home after this effort!