The first match at The Willows for the new season was played in excellent conditions, on an outstanding hard and fast wicket. The Willows won the toss and elected to bat. After losing two early wickets, and with the score at 15, it was up to Tom Rennie, Will Young and Martin Kelly to get the innings back on track. Two very good partnerships between Rennie and Young, 71 for the 2nd wicket and 128 for the third wicket between Young and Kelly, allowed the Willows to compile a very competitive 267 for 5. Young in his first match for the Willows scored a wonderful century being well supported by Martin Kelly.

The Willows opening bowlers Jack Nuttall and Ryan McEwan bowled accurately with the new ball making scoring difficult for Gore. Nuttall bowled with good pace, and McEwan swung the ball nicely and deserved his excellent figures. The Gore batsmen struggled to gain any momentum through the middle stages of their innings, with scoring proving to be difficult. Danny Dowds was the star of The Willows bowling effort with figures of 4/11 from 4 overs. His fine return combined with good catching enabled The Willows to restrict Gore High School to 125.

Once again it was a pleasure to host Gore High School 1st XI as the boys acquitted themselves well against a fairly experienced Willows XI, and were a credit to their school.