Steep won the toss and chose to bat. The opening batsmen played intelligently against an accurate Hawkley attack, waiting for the occasional poor ball to punish but avoiding unnecessary risk. The result was steady but unspectacular progress towards an opening stand of fifty as several half-chances went down before Hallam Brown took a good catch at mid-off to dismiss Collins. Steep looked to up the tempo against the change bowlers with mixed results as Sam Mullard struck twice to dismiss Knight and McCubbin. Meanwhile Steep skipper John Smith passed his fifty and continued to score freely until finally dismissed by a smart stumping by keeper Nigel Brown. The Hawkley spinners Nick Troth and Hallam Brown were very effective in keeping the runs down while taking two wickets apiece, ensuring a subdued end to the Steep innings which at 178 was below par for a good batting track.

In reply Toby Flack set about the Steep attack with characteristic belligerence to score a rapid fifty before falling to Smith. Batten and Humphreys both played cameo roles as skipper Madeley anchored the innings with a steady 29. Hawkley stuttered slightly as middle order wickets fell cheaply but Steep’s lack of bowling firepower was their undoing as the remaining runs were knocked off with thirteen overs to spare to hand Hawkley the bragging rights over their neighbours for a fifth successive year.