On a day where temperatures remained over 30 degrees, The Willows lost the toss and thus had to endure the stifling heat in the field.

The selectors had ensured over rates would not be a problem as the team was made up predominantly of spin. Tim Johnston, Bill Walsh, Maulik Patel and Alex Reese gave the captain great variety to choose from. Runs were hard to come by and the miserly bowling of Tim Johnston was a revelation. He finished with figures of 1-19 off 10 overs.

However, it wasn’t the young spinners that did all of the damage, it was the experienced Warren Eddington who destroyed the opposition. With figures of 5/15 off his 8 overs he took wickets at regular intervals on his way to the honours board. Timaru were able to limp through to 150 in 46 overs.

The Willows top order set about the target with great speed which was achieved in just 23 overs with Maulik Patel and Ben Orton being the stand out performers.

In a light hearted moment Bill Walsh (who was batting at three for The Willows) went out to face his younger brother Tom. The tussle resulted in a clear winner. W Walsh bowled T Walsh for zero. Cricket is certainly a leveller as Bill had come off a century the day before.

All in all it was a difficult day for Timaru, however, there are signs of real promise in their top order. As always the pitch and ground conditions were superb and this meant any lack of accuracy was seized upon by some strong batting from The Willows side.