In the absence of nominated skipper Jonnie Bradshaw, Rohan Iswariah tossed the coin and duly elected to bat first on a moist pitch with a distinctly green tinge. With the new ball moving in the air, batting was a tricky business, and Warborough lost wickets at regular intervals. When a heavy shower arrived after an hour's play, the player left the field with the home side teetering at 50 for four.

The rain had the effect of further softening the pitch, and the not out batsmen (Iswariah and Bradshaw) proceed with much caution on the resumption after half an hour had been lost. However, bowler Bradshaw was now extracting a generous amount of lift with his leg-cutters from the Rowse End, and soon accounted for Iswariah and Tiedeman. When batsman Bradshaw irresponsibly lifted young seamer Olive's very first delivery straight to extra-cover, Warborough had collapsed to 90 for seven.

It was left to Chris Ward to set about repairing the innings, first with solid defence, and latterly with the flashing blade as he set about a tiring attack, and Warborough took advantage of the surprisingly late start-time that had been agreed at the toss for the final 20 overs. 61 runs had been added for the eighth wicket in 12 overs before Ward chanced his arm once too often against the struggling slow left-armer Denton. The declaration came five overs later; despite the enforced rain-break, Warborough had managed to bat for 49 overs, and still had enough time left to bowl at least 41 overs back at the opposition.

A further light shower during tea freshened up the pitch once again - and with the visitors not expecting the home captain to produce a new ball for the second innings (and one delivery with the old), the victory target of 171 looked quite daunting.

Stonor's cause was initially aided by some wayward bowling from Marcus Ward, who sent down eleven deliveries in his first over, and nine in his second. However, when he straightened his line in the third, he induced Maidlow to pull rather rashly at a good-length ball, skying the ball into the safe hands of Adrian Zagoritis who took the catch calmly at first slip - despite the unusual shout of "time" from the football-element at mid-on.

With seamers Iswariah, Hall, and Wards Marcus and Chris all hitting the right areas, Stonor struggled to score runs, and wickets continued to tumble. In the midst of this, special mention must be made of the sportsmanship shown by batsmen Harris, Dickie, and Powell, who each walked off without hesitation or reference to the umpire when feathering catches to the wicketkeeper.

Harris and Denton smote some lusty blows when the sun finally appeared as the last hour began; but Freddie Iswariah's probing leg-spin and Jon Allen's sharply-turning off-breaks accounted for the final four wickets as Stonor fell 46 runs short with at least eleven overs left unused and the dark clouds rolling in once more.