Yet another beautiful day saw a relatively youthful Willows side, featuring eight Old Boys of Shirley, electing to bat first in front of a large contingent of Shirley Boys’ parents (who thoroughly enjoyed their day at The Willows).

The Willows’ batting was solid with a number of useful partnerships. Despite only scoring 42 runs off the last 10 overs, 189 was a competitive score. Michael Peacock and Matt Fielding were the pick of The Willows’ batsmen. The best bowling came from Shirley Boys’ captain Josh Reeves, who conceded only 14 runs from 9.1 overs, including two wickets. Tawera Waru also bowled well.

One feature of the game was the stunning boundary catch by Shirley Boys’ all rounder, James Grice, whose tumbling dive plucked the ball out of air as it was headed for six.

Shirley’s openers made a promising start but the introduction of Colin Hight and Peter YoungHusband to the bowling crease ripped the heart out of the Shirley batting and they finished well short.