After winning the toss, The Willows chose to bat first on a pitch that looked like it had something in it for the bowlers. However with rain forecast in the afternoon, The Willows did not want to take the field for 50 overs only to see the rain roll in after lunch.

The opening bowlers for Country Schools utilised the new ball well especially S. Stalker who kept an excellent line and length. The Willows were in trouble at 3/24 before a slight rebuild began. The fourth wicket fell at 92. From here, we were reduced to 122/7 steadied by a patient 51 from Sam Clarke. With the loss of Sam, it was left to the experience of Tim McConnell (64) and Adrian McFedries (47*) to get The Willows out of trouble and we finally managed a highly competitive score of 246.

Country Secondary Schools fell behind the run rate early due to some tight bowling from Ryan Hughes and Adrian McFedries. Driving the run rate up drew wickets, with Sam Clarke being the chief destroyer taking 5/22. He was denied a hat-trick after a big LBW shout was not given — “robbed” even by the batsman’s own admission. For the second year running Michael Millar was employed to continue the pressure and again he cleaned up the tail with good wicket-to-wicket bowling taking 4/12.

Overall, it was a fantastic day, with plenty of talent on show for the combined schools side. The score did not reflect the talent they had taking on a strong Willows side.