Fortunately the fickle Canterbury weather behaved itself for long enough to allow the first fixture of the New Year at The Willows to get underway. The Willows, as is their custom, won the toss and elected to bat.

The Willows upper and middle order conspired to produce good starts to their innings, without any one really going on. Liam Bartholomeusz, Tiggy Dalley, Tim Harrison, Rajeev Varma and Brendon Wellington all made useful contributions towards The Willows final score of 199 all out. The Suburban XI bowling attack was led by Dann Vann who took 5 wickets from his 9.2 overs.

A defendable enough total, and with the Suburban XI 19 for 2 early in their innings, things looked promising for The Willows. However an outstanding batting display by Ben Williams ensured the Suburban XI were always going to reach the target of 200. Ben was well supported by the Suburban XI Captain Greig Pullar with the Suburban XI reaching their target with 6 wickets and 11 overs to spare. Their win was thoroughly deserved.

Our thanks to Roger Georgieff and the Suburban XI, for ensuring the relationship between The Willows and Suburban Cricket remains strong.

Our thanks also to our umpires for the day Phil Harris (Willows and Suburban stalwart) and John Elley, our scorer Tony Campbell, and of course all The Willows members who help to make each day at The Willows a memorable one for all.