Our Christchurch Girls’ High School/ Te Kura o Hine Waiora 1st XI cricket team headed out to The Willow Cricket Club on Wednesday in drizzle and grey skies in the hope that the weather would clear.

The team were to play St Hilda’s Collegiate from Dunedin in the annual Willows cricket match.  Luckily the weather was clearer out behind Rangiora at The Willows, a beautiful cricket ground which our players were very privileged to be able to play on. The match started on time with Christchurch Girls’ High School / Te Kura o Hine Waiora team winning the toss and electing to bat first and so the 30 over match against St Hilda’s began.

Our team batted well making 122 runs for 7 wickets; captain Sacha Arnold made 31, Heidi Clouston 22 and Lilah Cowan 19. Our team started their fielding innings very positively, Lilah Cowan opened the bowling and on the fourth ball got a wicket with a very good catch and bowled. The game progressed well with great fielding and it came down to the last couple of overs with St Hilda’s creeping up on our team’s total. Our opening bowlers came on for final bowling spells and finished the job for the team; Lilah Cowan and Pippa Ussher getting the final two wickets, Pippa a spectacular catch and bowled in the 30th over. St Hilda’s finished with 108 runs for 8 wickets. The fielding by our team was very good with the whole team contributing.

The Christchurch Girls’ High School / Te Kura o Hine Waiora 1st XI cricket team won the match and so regained The Willows Rose Bowl trophy. The presentation of the trophy was made by Lesley Murdoch who is a past White Ferns player and the current NZ Cricket president. The Willows were great hosts and before coming back to school the team enjoyed a shared lunch with St Hilda’s.

The Regional Gillette tournament is fast approaching for our team. The tournament will beheld at Hagley Park 12 – 14 March.