The idea was conceived at Gary and Leslie Monk’s daughter’s wedding, together with Charles and Carol Shadbolt. Nine months later the first fixture for the Shadbolt Monk Trophy was played at The Willows.

Glimmer (named after Mick Jagger and Keith Richards), skippered by Tom Hellaby, was the first non-school XI from Auckland to play at The Willows.

Glimmer got off to a strong start followed by a middle order collapse, finally getting through to 207 with an excellent contribution of 65 from Martin Pringle who shared a 79 run partnership with Alan Isaac (13). Three excellent catches by Frank Noster, four wickets for Phil Harris and two each for Richard McGuire, Richard Morgan and Hamish Wright did the damage.

The Willows made the chase difficult by steadily losing wickets to reach 154. Khamal with 4/25 contained The Willows’ batsmen. The visit provided the Auckland Glimmer cricketers with an insight into The Willows’ cricketing ethos.

In addition to accepting the Shadbolt Monk Trophy, Gary was presented with The Willows’ “Cock Up” award as he has been present at all the Rugby World Cups the All Blacks have not won.