After last year’s thrashing it was nice to turn the tables against the Umpires XI this year. The Willows lost the toss and were asked to bat. Everywhere, we saw umpires, 13 of them; the odds were stacked against us!
We were looking for a total that would exceed the combined ages of our openers – something over 140 should do? However wickets were lost at a steady pace and it was only when Nigel de Maine and Grant Stewart combined that we pushed on to a competitive score of 167.
It turned out to be Grant’s day, when he claimed three wickets in his first 3 overs. Then followed a dogged innings from Dave Stuthridge and good knocks from two young umpiring prospects (R Hawes and J Collins) which had our total looking fragile. The return of Grant to the crease was decisive; he picked up a total of five wickets – all bowled! And the game was won. Sweet revenge.
(Source: Annual Report 2017 - 2018)