The Split Enz lyric “history never repeats” would not have been more off the mark if applied to our match with the Mobil Oil XI.
Two years ago, almost to the day, Mobil import Paul McEwan was recalled to the crease by the Willows after being given out LBW for a “nick onto the pads”. This year the lucky player was Cleighten Cornelius, recalled by the opposition. He hadn’t scored any when he was given out caught behind (with air between bat and ball), but a quick team chat resulted in an invitation to return to the crease. This was a gesture befitting the standards at the Willows.
Early on the Willows were well contained after winning the toss and batting. Cornelius (76), Ben Harris (40) and “Titch” McGuire (45 not out) increased the tempo, all batting superbly. The total finished at 224/6.
Likewise, the Mobil team found runs hard to accumulate initially. Car! Anderson, Wade Cornelius and Ben Harris bowled tightly and only the HSOB trio of Darin Cusack (62), David Bond (39) and Chris Flanagan (22) brought some Mobil muscle to bear. Perhaps the winning of the game came with a wonderful diving catch by Phi! Harris to remove Flan – a man with a past record of flailing Willows bowlers.
In the end the Mobil boys were ten short of the required target but that didn’t matter. It had been a terrific day, played hard by guys who have been together in rep and club cricket for years. The sight of “quicks” like Michael Sharpe, Wade Cornelius and Stu Roberts going all out and the guile of Ben Harris, Cad Anderson and Garry MacDonald makes Willows-Mobil fixtures special. Plus the incessant off-field banter between Ross Cameron and MED.
To cap it off we had the privilege of four umpires in attendance during the day. Willows stalwart Eddie Brownlee brought out two of the Taranaki men – Peter Blackbourn and Lin Hotter – to taste Willows hospitality. Test umpire Chris King also took a keen interest in proceedings.
The traditional cheques were presented at the end of the day. One for $2000 was to Eddie for Canterbury Umpires and $1500 to North Canterbury cricket for youth development. David Hill, General Manager of Mobil Oil NZ Ltd, reminded us at the after match that cricket at the Willows is indeed in good heart – particularly when there is an ethos to recall an opposing colleague when wrongly judged out.