January 27 saw the inaugural match between the Willows and Timaru Boys’ High take place. The weather was finally on the side of a cricket match.

Timaru Boys’ won the toss and elected to bat against a youthful Willows team. Timaru Boys’ made a solid opening of 58 runs before the introduction of the spin twins of Fraser Hawes and Sandy McLeod. Both spinners bowled well in tandem collecting two wickets a piece at a very economical rate. It was left to the seamers of Stuart Stevens, Matthew Stone, Nathan Kroening, and a top fielding effort ably lead by David Bond behind the stumps, to strangle Timaru’s run charge. Kroening ending with the figures of 3 for 27.

In reply the Willows battled away to its target of 167, requiring 47.5 overs. Kroening was largely responsible for the Willows’ success with another top performance. He steered his side to the target with an unbeaten 55. The win was based round four key mini-partnerships between Marcel McKenzie, David Bond, Geoff Miller and Darin Cusack.

Timaru Boys’ produced an outstanding fielding effort and were well led at all times. An enjoyable and competitive days cricket was had by all.

My thanks once again go to Peter Nancarrow for his match management, the umpires Terry and Nathaniel, Tony Campbell the scorer, and Peter and Vincent for a great playing surface in trying weather conditions.