Andy Lowe, founder of the Ocean Beach County Cricket Club, arrived down with his team and put the Challenge Cup up for this inaugural home fixture. The Willows, termed the Southern Barbarians on this not insignificant trophy, proved no match for the northern visitors.

The gents from Ocean Beach were suitably impressed with the pristine state of the Loburn pitch and outfield; but alas the only negative was a sub-par performance from The Willows XI. After a cautious start The Willows openers of Tudehope and Dobson put on an opening stand of 55 runs before an inevitable mid-order collapse. However Jim Hazlett batted well and righted the ship as we scraped together a total of 161/7 off 40 overs. Brad Clark recorded the best bowling figures of the match.

In reply, Ocean Beach made short work of the chase, passing our score in 29.1 overs. Openers Ritchie and Smith put on 94 runs before we broke through but by then the die was cast. The Challenge Cup was well and truly safe for the visitors, to be contested again in twelve months time. The final act was to invite Andy Lowe to become a member of The Willows and to look forward to our next meeting up.