Warwickshire 2nd XI v Minor Counties at Studley CC - Thursday, 4th July

A superb exhibition of swing bowling on a blameless pitch, reduced Warwickshire to 16-6 wickets off 15 overs. The catalyst to this collapse was the smart run out of Mohamed Sheikh, off a mis-field, by Chris Brown.

Cornwall's Justin Stephens (2-23 off 10 overs) and Devon's Ian Bishop (3-13 off 10 overs) did the early damage. Chris Brown and Martyn Dobson followed up with 20 overs of immaculate offspin to keep the pressure on the lower order batsmen.

A couple of chances went begging as Nick Warren (64 not out) batted resolutely to save the situation. Even so, at 81-9 it looked all over, but a last wicket stand between Tom Mees and Warren added 51 in 16 overs, before Warren was run out for 20 in the 48th over.

A target of 133 should have been comfortable, but it was not to be. Fine seam bowling from Mohamed Sheikh and Tom Mees reduced the Minor Counties to 56-6.

Richard Howitt produced a magnificent innings and turned the game on its head in an 8th wicket stand of 49 with Justin Stephens, before Howitt was bowled for 69 with 4 runs still required. In tense finish, Stephens batted admirably to hit the winning runs with just three balls to spare.