It was a young Willows Team that greeted the Christ’s College 1st XI on a fine Loburn morning. Ably lead by the “evergreen” John Masefield, The Willows won the toss and elected to bat. An inspirational choice that The Willows took advantage of. Tom Fisher and Chris McGoldrick paved the way for a middle-order onslaught headed by James O’Gorman who played magnificently, retiring on 101. He combined with a typically belligerent John Masefield. Their 149 run partnership took The Willows to an impressive 300. The bowling honours for College being evenly shared.

The afternoon, weather wise, created a different game completely. Rain interrupted the match so frequently that both sides now have extensive experience in “pitch protection”.

At one stage the game was left to the umpires to decide if we would continue.

A little moisture on the wicket was enough to concern all of the College batsmen who found runs hard to get. The College openers of Tim Murgatroyd and Alex Reese faced some very accurate and sharp bowling by The Willows, lead by Willie Lonsdale but built a solid opening stand of 89. With a mounting run rate combined with the dampish wicket, College reached a respectable total of 191 being bowled out in the 47th over.