The Willows fixture 2025

Just a few days out from Christmas and though prizegiving and the season had long since wrapped up, there was one more fixture on the card for the North West 1st XI. Zac Tait writes

Having been invited to play against the The Willows Cricket Club out at their incredible facilities in Loburn, it was a game we were looking forward to all year.

It was a particularly challenging affair for us as we were missing 8 names from our 1st Xi squad, which included our entire leadership core, and 4 of the top 6 batting unit. That gave us the chance to test the depth in the club, with a number of debuts given out. Zac Chalmers, Yatharth Sharma, Jordy Moore and Ryan Earl were all named for their debuts, while Alex Guillemot was named for his debut as Captain of the side.

There was a lot of cause for concern that the game would even go ahead because of the atrocious weather last night, but some stunning work was done by the Willows and the ground was in pristine condition. It is one of the best grounds in the country and looked in extremely good nick as Alex went out to toss and it came as no surprise when the Willows won the toss and chose to make first use of the deck.

Alex took the new ball for himself and quickly found his line and length, producing a couple edges in the first over. The first flew through vacant third slip for 4 and the second was put down in the gully. It was a chance we would rue slightly as though we bowled tidily for the most part, we only had to miss slightly and the ball was punished to the boundary.

The only other year 13 in the squad was George Grayling and he took the new ball alongside Alex and much like his new ball partner, found his bad balls being punished.

Still, despite the Willows getting away to a good start, Alex kept up the attacking fields and was finally rewarded when a leading edge balloned over gully and this time Sam was able to hold on to a good catch, running back over his shoulder.

Then immediately following that, Oscar grabbed a wicket in his first over as he found the edge through to the keeper and we had dismissed both openers inside 10 overs with the score on 43-2

The Willows batsmen then settled into their work and started building a partnership with ease as they hit into gaps really well and put us under immense pressure.

Alex was ringing the changes having used 6 bowlers in the first 15 overs and it was the 6th bowler that brought a wicket, albeit with a rank halftracker that was slapped to point, but Sam didn’t care, he had a wicket and it was a first catch for Ryan.

That broke a 40 run partnership, just before it got really dangerous and then those same two combined again for a dismissal, just in the reverse.

Batting was current opening batsmen Jasper Welfords brother, Gideon Welford, an Ex North West 1st Xi batter who scored plenty of runs for the club and was now playing against us.

He sliced one high off Ryan into the covers and with Sam backpedalling, he leapt backwards, somehow got 2 hands to it and held on to it as he tumbled to the ground, receiving applause even from the opposition for that effort.

Then when Ryan added a second in the same over, a brilliant catch by Olly with the gloves off a flashing cut shot, it brought us back into the contest now at 103-5

Over the next half hour or so we were nearly batted out of the contest thanks to a brilliant partnership by the pair at the crease..

It was free flowing and boundaries were coming at will and we were unable to stop the flow for quite a while.

The spinners were being swept, the pacers played with ease and at 160-5 off 32 it was looking like we would be chasing plenty.

That changed quickly when Alex went back to Oscar who provided an immediate breakthrough, getting a touch lucky via a chop on. He then grabbed his third in the same over as he pinned the new batsmen lbw.

Meanwhile the set batsman had notched up a very good half century and was continuing to find runs with ease.

Liam grabbed the 8th wicket, just to keep us in touch with the score on 181 as Ollie took a good catch low to his left at short cover.

With 200 approaching, George came back to the crease and finished off the innings. Alex still mantained the aggressive fields and Sam took a brilliant catch at gully off a cut shot, his 3rd catch of the day.

Two balls later and it was Yatharths turn to take a good catch, as he dove foward at square leg and the innings came to an end on exactly 200.

We were very happy with that and though we’d had a major reshuffle in our batting line up it felt like a total we could chase down.

Opening up was Ollie Fifield and Zaak Zaman who had been thrust up top after spending the majority of the year in the tail.

Opening for the Willows was former North West 1st Xi opening bowler Micah Walters who produced a very good first over, but conceded 7 through third man from shots off the outside half of the bat.

Ollie looked in good touch early as he played a deliberate dab through third man for 2, and found gaps easily as he raced to 11, but a stunning delivery from Micah took out his off stump and we were 12-1.

That brought Zac to bat with Zaak and Zac got his innings underway with a glorious flick off his legs for 4.

Zaak meanwhile was gap finding well and the pair were running hard, continuously ticking the score over. They saw out the rest of the opening bowlers with Zaak playing a thumping pull shot for 4 over square leg as he was looking in really good nick.

Spin came on from both ends and contained us well for the inital overs, but Zaak brought out the broom and began sweeping everything to keep us up with the rate.

Zac was then bowled for 20 in a 47 run partnership with Zaak leaving us at 61-2 after 15 overs. That brought Olly to the wicket and he looked so comfortable and in control early, after his first ball.

He was beaten all ends up and the ball went away for a couple leg byes, but from there, it was all Olly. He got off the mark with hard run 3 then hit the spinner over mid on for, before slog sweeping for 4 more and topping that off with a 2 and 3 run back to back.

Drinks was taken at 88-2 off 21, so perfectly going at the rate needed for victory. Coming out from drinks and both batsmen continued from where they left off and in no time had brought up the 50 run stand between them, but with the stand on 58, Olly tried to pinch one single too quickly and despite the dive, he was run out for a well made 36.

Zaak meanwhile had gone down with cramp and despite having his legs stretched out, he didn’t recieve a lot of sympathy neither from the opposition or his batting partner who just stood at the non strikers end.

He was clearly in pain and struggling, but he soldiered on after recieving a life on 46 when he was dropped at slip attempting to ramp, he brought up a well deserved half century the very next ball, this time succeeding in the ramp and sending the ball down to the vacant third man region for 4 a fantastic knock at the top of the order.

His innings wouldn’t last much longer as he was trapped in front by Micah for 55, but that was an incredible effort from the makeshift opener. His wicket made it 139-4 off 34 overs, leaving 62 off 16 overs and 6 wickets in hand.

Zaak receiving a gift from Brian Hays, Tom Music who captained The Willowers looks on

Sam Waddell came out and had some fun as he cleared the front leg and tried to clear the innner ring multiple times. He and Oscar ran hard and well together, picking up a couple 3s and 2’s before Sam hit a glorious 4 off his legs over square leg, but then threw his wicket away off the last ball of Micah’s spell who had looked the most dangerous to us all day and was caught at mid off.

Liam and Oscar then found things tough for a bit as the squeeze came on. The Willows hit their lines and the fielders were well placed and we just struggled to turn over the strike for some time. We could only muster 15 runs in 7 overs, which included the losses of Liam and Alex who fell in the same over.

That left us in trouble at 169-7 off 43 overs. 32 required off 7 overs and 3 wickets in hand.

George joined Oscar and with him as conductor they ran almost on every ball, just putting pressure on, but when George fell with still 22 needed we could feel the game slipping away from us.

21 runs from the last 4 was required. a set Oscar and brand new Yatharth at the wicket.

We took 4 from the 47th over as Yatharth ran hard for a 3, but it was a tight over and we couldn’t get anything more away.

17 needed off 18 balls, Gideon then strangled us further as he gave away just 3 singles in the 48th over leaving 14 off 12 required

A wide to start, followed by a dot and we were now in do or die territory and it was Yatharth who made his move, hitting it dead straight over the bowlers head, finding the grass and the ball kicked away for 4 making it 9 off 10.

A second wide brought us a step closer.

Oscar then called Yatharth through for a suicidial single to which he survived making it 7 off 9.

Things looked like they’d turned in our favour when Oscar was dropped on the boundary and Yatharth hurtled back for the second before a pair of singles off the last two balls of the over meant we had taken 11 off it and needed just 3 from the final over.

A dot first ball increased the pressure on the pair in the middle, but with the field creeping in, suicidal singles were the name of the game and two of them in a row brought us level with 3 balls left and Yatharth, in what is his final game for North West, needed just one as he thumped the ball through the offside and took off for 3, despite Oscar not running after securing the one that was needed.

A brilliant win that went all the way to wire and kept us all on the edge of our seats for the entire innings.

It is always such a privellege to play at the Willows and this was definielty the best match we could have hoped for.

Huge thanks to The Willows Cricket Club and the Dormer Family for inviting us out to play and to John Mitchell as well, it was an awesome occasion and a huge privillege to be able to play on the ground and i think everyone came away having thoroughly enjoyed the day out.

What a way to end the season for us as well and we will back in just a few weeks time for the 2026 season.

The Willows 200-10 41.5ov