On Tuesday 5 December, the first fixture between the Willows Schoolgirls XI was played against a team from the Wellington Wanderers XI. The Willows team was made up of players from a variety of Canterbury schools as well as two girls from Waitaki Girls’ High School in Oamaru.

After a slightly delayed start due to rain the match got underway at 1pm. The Wanderers won the toss and elected to field. The Willows openers, Edie Maslin and Darcy-Rose Prasad started strongly putting on 64 for the first wicket before both fell at that score. Willows captain, Maggie Martin fell six runs later before Niamh McKenzie and Emma Fox shared in a 61 run partnership. Niamh McKenzie provided the backbone of the Willows score with a very well-compiled 79 playing shots all around the wicket and running confidently between the wickets. A number of other players contributed to the total of 225/8. Edie Maslin (48) and Emma Fox (21) were the best of these. The Wanderers bowled well, never letting the Willows dominate entirely. Jessica Robinson finished with figures of 3/19 and Cara McCully 2/9.

In reply, the Wanderers struggled to put together any substantial partnerships against a strong Willows bowling line up. All the bowlers bowled a consistent line and length making it particularly hard for the Wanderers batters to score with any freedom. Captain Neha Ramanathan, Nell Laracy-McCrystal and Bree James all made 20. Edie Maslin bowled magnificently to pick up 4/7 and Yssa Cullen 2/9. The Wanderers fell well-short of the required 226 for victory being all out for 115 in the 34th over.

Players of the Day were Edie Maslin for the Willows and Neha Ramanathan for the Wanderers.