An impassioned plea from a frustrated founder, a forlorn selector and a frazzled President to stem the tide of four early season defeats was answered again with a positive outcome against Clarrie’s “Old Boys”.

With the opposition captained by “Willower” Ross Bailey, the time-honoured tradition of visitors ‘losing’ the toss was not observed, and the President’s side gleefully batted first on a dry, slow pitch.

With the exuberance of youth leading the bowling attack (Richard Leary 2/21 , Michael Hastings 2/17) Clarrie’s XI was dismissed for a moderate score of 149/9 (Murray Mowat 36 , Vince Barry 33). Outstanding fielding skills were ably demonstrated by Michael Hastings, whilst Peter Wallace hid skilfully behind the stumps.

The cricketing etiquette of applauding the visiting captain’s arrival at the batting crease was understandably overlooked as he was not there long enough to notice his presence! My apologies to Ross.

With a consistent batting effort from Michael Hastings 31 , Dave Sharp 31 , Peter Wallace 24 and Murray Smith 30 , the target was comfortably reached in spite of Gubby Alien’s 3 for 23.

A comfortable win. Well played Willowers!