A clear day and an immaculate Willows oval greeted the players on arrival. LNZCC generously elected to bat first on a track which also had enough grass to encourage the bowlers. LNZCC’s top order was dismissed cheaply, until Scott and Singleton dug in. They both played well, as did Hudson, and LNZCC went to lunch relatively well positioned. After lunch, Singleton fell to Paul Mooney and Hudson to Chris Burnett, whose spell of out-swing tipped the balance back in favour of The Willows. Danny Dowds bowled a tidy 10 over spell of leg spin and was unlucky not to take a wicket. With LNZCC losing momentum, Scott Inglis came back for a second spell and removed the tail order, leaving LNZCC all out for 173.

This was an achievable total for The Willows and confidence levels were high as Ben Ward and Danny Dowds opened the batting. The performance which followed can be described quite simply – were it not for a disciplined 63 not out from Dowds and a fluent 64 from Chris Burnett, The Willows would not have won. The remainder of the batting line-up failed to fire. Mention should also be made of LNZCC’s bowling attack, which was efficient, including a compelling 10 over spell from seasoned inswinger Aaron Gale, who ended with figures of 4/34.

In the final analysis, it was a close and competitive game, which The Willows won narrowly owing to very good performances from both Dowds and Burnett.