The day dawned fair with not a cloud in the sky for the annual fixture against the combined Northwest Schools XI. After winning the toss The Willows elected to bat on what appeared to be a typically good home deck. Following promising starts by Allcock and Wilson which set up what could have been a decent score, the home team experienced not only a middle order batting collapse, but a tail which refused to wag. Our batting demise was a consequence of sharp fielding, two stumpings by Lawson and accurate bowling at times by the Schools team, particularly from Shaw assisted by Mikaera and Coburn.

The Willows score of 165 was always going to be a difficult total to defend. Subsequent events proved this to be so. While Schools appeared to be in trouble at 28 for 3 wickets, their experienced batsmen from the 2011 contest in the form of Milnes-Win and Coburn, flourished in an intelligent and productive partnership; with both scoring unbeaten half centuries to steer their team through to a comfortable and well deserved victory, by seven wickets.

A good turnout of parents, family members and friends supported the Schools XI and with John Mitchell prowling the boundary and on hand to present the trophy, members of the combined team were naturally delighted with their win. We look forward to the return match in 2013.