On a surface that had yet to dry out fully after a wet early Spring, Warborough started steadily against probing seam bowling. Christian Henk (23) dug himself in, and it wasn't until the ninth over - his 23rd delivery - that he finally got off the mark. At the other end, Chris Martin (13) was nullifying the effect of a slow outfield by taking the aerial route, and Mark Powell made light of the conditions by striking seven boundaries in his 38 from just 39 deliveries before he fell giving the persevering Tim Hardy (4-77) the charge.

A clutch of wickets now saw Warborough decline from a promising 76 for one in the 18th over to 92 for five in the 26th. Undeterred by the match situation, Alex Henk raced to a quick-fire 28 from just 25 deliveries, an innings that included ten twos as the younger Henk struggled to find enough timing to defeat the outfield. One liberty too many against the accurate Chris Hunt (4-31) brought his downfall with half an hour still to go before the tea interval.

A patient innings of 13 not out from 51 deliveries by Martyn Johnson ensured that a further 30 runs were eked out before the declaration came, whilst Simon Tiedeman began his season with a first-ball duck, and Philip Somarakis took full toll of the hitherto unplayable Hunt by square-swotting him for successive boundaries before being castled attempting a third.

Oxford Downs lost two early wickets in pursuit of the 158 required for victory, both to Christian Henk's bustling left-arm seam-bowling, aided by a brilliant low catch from brother Alex at second slip to remove the dangerous left-hander Khan. Thereafter, Frankie Crouch (50) and Tim Hardy (69) seemed quite at home with the conditions as they compiled a partnership of 107 in 23 overs of sensible aggression, which included striking four boundaries off Tiedeman's final over.

The pair were finally separated when Tiedeman atoned for an earlier gaff at short fine-leg by clinging on to a skier on the deep mid-wicket boundary. Paul Buckner soon pouched Crouch's replacement, but Hardy was granted a second life in the deep by the hapless Tiedeman before Alan Tilley finally pinned him in front with 16 runs still required from the final eleven balls.

Adjusting to the vagaries of the slow pitch against the Tilley Twins was never going to be easy for the young Oxford Downs late middle-order, and they settled for an honourable draw as the light began to fade.