Leading The Willows, Shirley Boys’ High School Headmaster Tim Grocott picked a strong side with a number of premier players, along with six SBHS old boys. We also had two debutants in Will Coombes from Christ’s College and Joey Pawson from St Bede’s College who played alongside his father Scott and uncle Jason.

SBHS won the toss and chose to bowl first on a sporting wicket which offered a bit to the seam bowlers. They troubled the batsmen, but probably didn’t get enough in the right areas consistently. Tyler Bruce and Tim Hampton-Matehe put on 104 for the opening stand. We continued to bat well with Ryan Entwistle reaching 42 and Scott Pawson dusting off his batting gear to compile an excellent 45. The bowling figures did not reflect how well the lads bowled, but Benji Irvine led the way with 3/58. The Willows finished on 278/7.

In reply SBHS started well with captain Mitch Gilmore scoring 46 but a series of wickets cut off any hope of a successful chase. There was some very testing bowling from The Willows with wickets shared around, but the pick of the bowlers was Michael Peacock who picked up 3/17 with his left arm spin. SBHS were bowled out in the 38th over for 107. It was an excellent day of cricket with fantastic support from families on both sides.