The Honest Trundlers comprised three players from the Bradman Foundation who visited last year and an assortment of eager types drawn from all over Australia plus one from Holland. They wore a tie that rivalled The Willows’ tie for tastelessness.

Having won the toss on a mild day, The Willows chose to bat and made merry despite a greenish track and an emerald outfield. David Bond hit lustily through the leg side and was troubled only by Mike Hawke’s enthusiasm for running threes. After twenty overs, The Willows’ captain was making throat-slitting gestures from the pavilion to both batsmen. Neither could find a way of getting himself out however, and both retired with half centuries. In came Phil Harris who did the same. In 40 overs, The Willows knocked up 217 for 5 which was actually for 2.

The Trundlers’ captain confided that after number five they didn’t have an awful lot of batting. The Willows’ response was to take a series of catches of unexampled brilliance. Jacob Wolt clasped a stringer at mid-off with his thighs, David Bond held one at point by flinging himself horizontally to his left like a Chinese acrobat, and Michael Hawke made a fierce slip catch look like taking communion. Shortly afterwards, a monstrous skier soared. Because The Willows had posted the sort of field that the West Indies favoured in the eighties, only Alistair Sheard was in front of the wicket on the leg side. Good luck, called the ’keeper. Bets were laid. Alistair ran twenty yards and pouched the ball in both hands without the least suggestion of ever dropping it. In consequence the Trundlers’ batting was all gone inside fifteen overs and after that it was just a case of playing the game out. The only man to score any runs for the visitors had recently had a laser operation on his eyes and claimed to be seeing double.