Willoughby 'A' v Preston Capes 'A'

Preston Capes ‘A’ (180 for 4 – 20 pts) beat Willoughby ‘A’ (176 for 6 – 7 pts) by 6 wickets

No such joy for Willoughby as their previously unbeaten record went by the wayside in a tight ending at The Green.

Having been forced to alter team selection prior to the start, the hosts batted first and looked to be heading for nothing short of a disaster. The renforced e-shuffling of the top order were reduced to 19 for 4 and 32 for 5 with Lloyd Liddington taking 3 wickets. However skipper Martin Nichols produced another gusty 'get-out-of-jail' innings as he has so often this and in years previous, and together with Karl Harland they put respectability back onto the Willoughby innings. Harland departed for a well-crafted 39 but Nichols with an unbeaten 71 saw the innings through - aided by the impressive Akshay Vaghela who made an unbeaten 18, taking Willoughby to 176 for 6 off their 40 overs.

In reply, Preston Capes started well as Willoughby with reduced bowling options at their disposal struggled to make inroads to the visitors fast start, despite one of their openers holing out with only 16 on the board. However the hosts kept nagging away as the run rate continued to be just in reach of the visitors. Having seen the seemingly-now customary caught behind not given, Nichols and Martin Bowley each grabbed a wicket apiece to try and keep the visitors in check. However contributions from Capes' Pete Unsworth 39, Richard Bull 29 and

Liddington batting at number 3 proved crucial; the latter hitting the winning runs to finish with 51 not out with 3 balls of the match remaining to take the points the visitors way.