The Willows and St Thomas of Canterbury College teams first contested the Brother Bill Dowling Trophy in 2005. I was fortunate enough to be involved in that fixture, and have played in every contest since! Although I look forward to every game I play at The Willows, the St Thomas fixture always holds a special significance for me, so I was thrilled to have my first outing as Willows captain in this year’s game. On arrival I noted The Willows boasted one of the strongest batting line ups I’ve ever seen, so it was going to be another tough day for the opposition.

Perhaps the best thing about playing in the midweek, forty over fixtures is being able to fill yourself with a huge lunch, before sending the school boys into the field for a long afternoon of chasing leather. Lunch completed, the strong Willows batting line up turned themselves towards amassing an imposing total.

Led by current teacher of the College and former first XI captain Paul McCarthy and hard hitting Tim McConnell, our openers got us off to a great start. When Paul departed for 17, we were well poised at 51/1 to make a large score. Matt Parr joined Tim to take the score through to 129 before Tim was removed 11 runs short of a Willows century. Unlike Tim, Ben Laughton, ex-Willows Matfen scholar and also a former first XI captain, went on to convert his good start and score his first Willows century. He duly retired after a brilliantly compiled 105*. Brad Doody and Matt made sure our good start didn’t go to waste, posting scores of 52 and 76 respectively. The St Thomas boys were unfortunately without one of their star pace bowlers Will Brown, who was out with injury, and the rest of the bowlers made a valiant effort to stem the flow of runs. Unfortunately some dropped catches and questionable fielding let them down, as The Willows posted a huge 356 in their 40 overs.

As the St Thomas openers made their way to the middle, there was a sea of black clouds making their way towards the ground from the Southern End. The Willows knew a victory would only be possible following some early wickets! Fortunately, Grant Stewart responded. The swing and movement off the greenish pitch was too much for the young fellas, and they got themselves into trouble early, being 11 for 3 after the first 6 overs. From here there was no coming back, as The Willows spin attack of promising young Daniel Rawson and Dave Kelly tied things up nicely. Unfortunately for The Willowers, the bad weather hit Jaguar Oval, and the umpires deemed no more play was possible. The St Thomas lads finished on 78 for 8 after 30 overs. Despite significant protest from The Willows players, no Duckworth-Lewis calculations were completed, and the match was declared a draw.

Again, it was another thoroughly enjoyable afternoon against the St Thomas side, who despite being behind for large parts of the game on the scoreboard, played in high spirits and as a team throughout.

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