On a dewy, foggy morning St.Andrew’s captain Matthew Wright won the toss and put the Willows in to bat.

After a slow start, due to some very straight bowling, the innings gathered momentum as the sun began to shine. With handy knocks by Scott Pawson (25), Guy Bromley (35) and Matt Lancaster (33) we reached 180 , which should have been more had the ‘tail’ wagged even a little bit.

The St.Andrew’s innings also started slowly but some positive batting by Matthew Wright (63) and R.Stenhouse (34) put the game within reach. However, some inexperience when less than a run a ball was required in the last few avers, and some shrewd bowling by Mitch MacDonald (why did they play the spin?) allowed the Willows to hold on to the John MacDonald Trophy with a four run win.

We had the fortunate pleasure of the company of several English dignitaries for lunch, including Mr and Mrs Richard Hutton (Richard is editor of the English Cricketer magazine which has recently celebrated its 75th anniversary), Mr and Mrs Roger Knight (Roger is Secretary of the MCC), Mr and Mrs Roger Gillott (Mr Gillott is President of Nottinghamshire Cricket), and Mr and Mrs Robin Marlar (Mr Marlar is a former captain of Sussex and writer for the Sunday Times in England). Our Patron, Waiter Hadlee and Mrs Hadlee were also present.