Warwick were able to bounce back from the disappointing cup exit with a dominant performance against King’s, Worcester, which will hopefully help us as we look to advance in the 20 over tournament which begins for us on Monday.

After winning the toss we elected to bat first. Despite the overcast conditions and a used pitch giving some assistance to both spinners and seamers we made a strong start. Evans, promoted to open in the absence of Gupta, made a steady start as he got used to the surface, but Dunning looked in an assertive mood from the off, striking a series of boundaries as we progressed quickly to 33 off the first four overs. King’s decided to keep on their leg-spinner for his full four overs, but tried a variety of options at the other end. None of this disrupted our rhythm, however, and both batsmen showed good awareness to challenge the fielders, run hard and keep the scoreboard ticking steadily upwards, with boundaries acting as regular punctuations. Dunning reached a thoroughly deserved half century off just 36 balls but fell soon afterwards as he looked to put his foot down still further. His score was 54 out of a team total of 88 – a fine opening partnership. Any hope that King’s may have had of a respite was quickly dashed. By this point Evans had entirely found his stride as a batsman and was regularly clearing the infield, whilst Wye showed devastating power, smashing 25 runs (6 fours and wide) from a single over. With the intention of giving as many players a bat as possible in advance of the cup game both men were retired at the end of the 15th over, with Evans having reached 36 from 33 and Wye 34 from a mere 15. The score stood at 138 and 200 seemed a possibility. Singh did not last long, being bowled for 0, and Downes started slowly in partnership with Newell. They eventually got going and Downes came close to matching Wye’s feat, hitting five consecutive boundaries, only for the final ball to go for just one. With one over to go Newell (7) and Downes (23 from 16) were withdrawn, and T. Davies and F. Davis came in for a quick burst at the end, though F. Davis would not get to face a single delivery as T. Davis struck ten runs, plus four byes, from the final over. We finished on 190 for three wickets (with four retired not out).

We started just as well with the ball as we had with the bat. Page had a wicket from just the third ball of the innings. It was beautifully pitched in the corridor of uncertainty, gripping and turning away to catch the edge of the bat, but the catch from Dunning at slip was every inch the match for the ball, diving away to his left to take a one-handed grab at shoulder height. Page got another in his second over, an equally accurate ball, but this one didn’t spin, darting through the gate as the batsman played for turn which never materialised: an object lesson in how attacking the right areas can bring both edges of the bat into play. Evans (2-1-6-2) then joined the party with a double wicket maiden. The first was the better wicket, angling in on a full length before late swing took it past the outside edge of the batsman’s fruitlessly groping bat. The second, a ball later, was short. The batsman cut hard at it, but only did enough to catch the edge, which flew hard, but safe into the gloves of Downes. When F. Davis (2-1-10-1) followed this up with a wicket maiden, a wild swing from the batsman pulling him completely out of shape and out of his ground, to give Downes a stumping victim, King’s had collapsed to 8-5 after five overs. There seemed every chance that the game would be wrapped up in short order. It is to King’s credit that they did not buckle but showed resilience and determination to bat into the final over, though without ever looking like trying for the chase. After great intensity at the beginning, we also let our levels drop and some sloppiness crept into our game. We utilised all of our bowling options in preparation for any eventualities in future games. Newell bowled some good balls but tended to drop too short and went for 12 from his two. Singh (2-0-11-1) was a little inconsistent, but he broke the first partnership to show resistance, inducing a sliced drive to Thomas at cover to leave King’s six down for 36. Dunlop was too good for the lower order to score off, giving away just two runs from his two overs, but they treated him with too much respect for him to fashion clear chances. T. Davies, by contrast, conceded 15 runs, including one spectacular six, but had his revenge as Thomas took another straightforward catch at cover. Thomas was less successful at bowling, an unaccustomed task, conceding eight from his over, including one very high no ball, whilst Dunning gave away 21 from his two, but removed the top-scoring number eight with a powerful delivery that got up from just backward of a length, crowding the batsman for room and forcing him to push the ball up to Singh at midwicket as he lost control of his stroke. There was still time for Wye (2-1-5-1) to have a couple at the end, including a wicket maiden: caught and bowled from a chipped drive, and Page (2.3-0-4-3) to finish proceedings as he tempted the number ten out of his ground with a looping leg break. Downes was tidy behind the stumps once again and King’s fell just one run short of three figures.

Man-of-the-match: a hard choice as there were a number of excellent performances. Dunning’s was a very fine innings to lead us out, Evans batted well and took two key wickets, Wye battered the opposition and bowled well at the tail, Page was terrific with ball in hand whilst Downes scored freely and had three dismissals from behind the stumps. By the finest of margins, Wye wins it.

Champagne moment: Dunning’s fantastic slip catch, shared with Wye’s six boundary over.