Warwickshire v Leeds/Bradford MCCU

• 10/05/2010

Warwickshire drew their match with Leeds/Bradford MCCU

Play was delayed until after lunch on the opening day after the MCCU side won the toss and batted against a strong Warwickshire eleven.
Naqaash made the initial breakthrough while Rankin’s pace and bounce proved too much as the home side slipped to 14-3.
Wickets continued to fall regularly to Barker 2-16 and Piolet 3-28 as the MCCU were bundled out for 108 in just forty-nine overs.
Before the close the Bears had reached 52-1 with the loss of Maddy just before stumps.
The second day began well for Warwickshire, as Ord and Chopra added an additional thirty-two runs to the overnight total before Chopra was out for forty.
Ord 20 and Javid 2 followed quickly, but Botha and Johnson extended the lead to sixty-one before the dismissal of Botha initiated a collapse that saw the last six wickets tumble for the addition of just eleven runs.
With a first innings lead of seventy two, the opening pair of Slater and Clarke, almost wiped out the arrears before Barker trapped Clarke lbw in the final hour of the day as the home side closed the second day on 87-1.
The third day saw Leeds/Bradford extend their advantage after an early success for Rankin, but Slater dominated the bowling before rain brought the players off the field thirty minutes before lunch.
After the interval Barker and Miller collected wickets as the MCCU side pushed their lead past one hundred and fifty and declared immediately after Slater had completed his century.
Set a target of 179 for victory from a minimum of thirty-four overs, slow left-armer, Williamson gave the Warwickshire batsmen a fright as Maddy went first ball and Ord followed in the same over.
Chopra and Botha added fifty five for the third wicket before Chopra 33, became Williamson’s third victim and when the same bowler took three more quick wickets as Javid, Johnson and Barker all failed to make double figures, Warwickshire teetered on 99-6 in the twentieth over.
Botha stood firm completing his half-century, as Warwickshire batted out time closing on 111-6 with Williamson finishing with 6-59.