For the fifth season, a Suburban XI journeyed to Loburn to wrest away the ‘Broken Bail’ Trophy. Before this match the score stood at two games each.

The Willows Skipper, Lyn Sparks, arrived at the ground ten minutes before match commencement and promptly lost the toss. He was asked to bowl first on a typically hard and flat Willows track- not a promising beginning!

As the Suburban XI charged on to 84/1 after 1 6 avers (David White 46) it looked as if the Willows were in danger of chasing a very large score. At this stage Lyn obviously considered ‘enough was enough’ so personally took charge with the ball and during a five over spell ripped through the middle of the Suburban innings ending with 3/41 and with great support from Hamish Clark (2/21), normality was returned, leaving Suburban with a more realistic score of 1 05/6 after 26 avers.

A rally by the ‘tail-enders’ led by James Knight scoring a very well compiled 53 not out, had Suburban reach a final total of 192 all out in the 48th over and the Willows side feeling confident they could successfully chase this target.

As frequently happens in cricket, games between two sides often follow a similar pattern and as with previous clashes between these two teams, the Willows chase mirrored the Suburban innings.

The Willows openers, Cameron and Matthew Stone got the team off to a very solid start, putting on 59 for the first wicket, Cameron scoring 35, before the Willows too suffered a middle-order collapse, slumping to 113/5 after 31 overs.

Some lusty hitting by Adrian McFedries and a very solid 45 from Jason Pawson had the team on track again, only to lose the last five wickets for a paltry 13 runs, leaving the Willows short by 35 runs.

Two bowlers for Suburban stood out, Dave Eriksen with 2/13 off six and Julian Marsh, the chief destroyer, taking 4/11 off 10 overs, this performance marked significantly the difference between the two sides.

So with the ‘Broken Bail’ Trophy safely back in the Suburban cabinet for another year, the Suburban XI, no doubt satisfied with their day’s efforts, enjoyed the afternoon hospitality of the Willows Cricket Club whilst our players reflected soberly on ‘the one that got away’.