The St Thomas’s boys, as is their custom, arrived for lunch smartly dressed and all eager to topple The Willows XI which consisted of several members who should have remained in their offices in the city – this being a Wednesday afternoon!

In a case of déjà vu St Thomas’s won the toss and inserted The Willows who proceeded to post a score of nearly six an over. The Willows were given a brisk start by their master Paul McCarthy (45) and Ryan Banks (39), with the 100 raised in the 21st over. The momentum was continued by Jonathan Davidson and Brad Doody who both just missed out on their half centuries. For St Thomas’s J Gillies and D Rawson both recorded figures of 2/40 from their 8 overs.

That is where the similarity to last year’s game ended as there was no repeat of the boys’ capitulation for 40 in just 13 overs. At 65/1 after 15 overs St Thomas’s platform had been set for a real charge at the target of 233. Unfortunately for the boys the introduction of spin from both ends saw the demise of the top and middle order with the Rev Mike Hawke starting the collapse, followed by Julian Marsh who ripped through the middle order finishing with 5/23. With a slight wag of the tail, St Thomas’s were bowled out for 140 with their top scorer being Ben Laughton with 33.

A good win for The Willows and a much improved performance by St Thomas of Canterbury College 1st XI. With a little more patience and composure by the schoolboy batsmen it would most certainly have been a closer game and I am sure next year they will continue to close the gap by playing in the V and building partnerships.