The Willows had the pleasure of hosting a positive group of Waitakians. They were engaging, polite and contributed to a fantastic day of cricket. As well, included in the Willows XI were two Rongotai College 1st XI players, George Wells and Eddie Hoben, which was facilitated through the Wanderers Club in Wellington. George is the son of former Wellington player Jason Wells and it was great to host Jason who freely shared his knowledge with the Waitaki students.

Waitaki won the toss and batted. A very strong Willows bowling line up including current Canterbury opening bowler Will O’Rourke, South Canterbury stalwart Craig Hinton, George Wells and Waitaki Old Boy Quinn Wardle restricted Waitaki to 123. Wardle took 4/12, O’Rourke 2/13 and Wells 2/33. The Willows chase was not without challenge, however Charles Finnie 51* and Michael Singleton 24* saw us home. For the visitors Lachie Mavor 2/22 impressed. He also picked up the gold Play in the V award for his contribution to cricket at Waitaki both on and off the field.