A positive weather check on the Saturday afternoon enabled the Southland Boys’ side to fly to Christchurch on the Sunday morning oozing confidence to retain the Peter Skelt Trophy.

The Willows were sent in and, as appears so often, were soon in trouble at 64 for 4. Cometh the hour, cometh the man—none other than Paul McEwan who after a very streaky four through slips, settled down to bat in a manner reminiscent of his golden years for Canterbury. Paul was ably supported by the youngsters James Boock, Daniel Burrows and Eliot Andrews enabling The Willows to a score of 238 for 7.

The Southland bowlers were accurate with Greg Mulvey capturing three scalps in his nine overs. The Southland fielding was of the highest order.

Chasing 239 to win the Southland batsmen, other than a solid 61 from H O’Brien, were unable to build sufficient worthwhile partnerships as they were put to the test by Eliot Andrews and the spin twins James Boock and Daniel Burrows.

The Willows commends Southland Boys’ High School for their commitment to travel to Christchurch for the annual fixture and acknowledges the excellent support from parents. Regretfully for the boys the flight home to Invercargill was minus the trophy!