The ground for the annual Tavendale & Partners sponsored Ashburton and Mount Hutt Colleges match was picture perfect; the wicket looked straight from the WACA, promising pace, bounce and carry. The Willows elected to bat first with Paul Knight and Jordan Sim gauging conditions. We made a promising start, amassing 33 runs for the first wicket before fast bowlers Jack Middleton and Lochie Fuller had our team reduced to 5 for 44 after 15 overs with potential for the wheels to fall off. Enter Captain Hastilow and Darron Stackhouse with a much needed 40 run partnership to ensure the wheels remained attached. Debutante Max Johnson and Callum Curnow helped Adam through to a competitive 177 off 43 overs.

After a delicious lunch, the good guys opened up with OBC quick Curnow bowling thunderbolts from the Dormer memorial end to a packed slip cordon. His first over went: wide, wicket, wide, wicket, dot, wicket, dot, wide, dot. Mid Canterbury 3 for 3. Johnson bowling the next over opened his account by taking two wickets in his first four balls to have College five down for 3 runs with all their top batsmen registering ducks. Will Jemmett strode to the wicket, nonplussed by the carnage and proceeded to counter attack with a flurry of massive boundaries, before being caught on the boundary by Riley Wilson. Mid Canterbury were all out for 54 after only 7.4 overs, with the captain’s strategy to implement the strongest slip cordon ever seen at the ground resulting in 7 catches taken by the ‘grabbers’. The BBQ sausages were yet to defrost.