MISTLEY came away with an unlikely draw from their Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division one match at Haverhill.

They were lucky to escape with a share of the points that their lacklustre performance barely warranted.

Having had a couple of interruptions earlier in the day, once for rain and another for bad light, the game went deep into the evening.

The umpires had already got together a number of times to discuss the prevailing conditions and around 8.30pm, with just five overs remaining, decided enough was enough and abandoned play.

At this point, the Suffolk side had looked well on course to complete a routine victory.

Earlier in the day, with rain forecast and cloud overhead, visiting captain Daniel Goff won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Things could have been very different had both openers been caught in James Stamatis’ second over, but both chances went to ground and Haverhill moved to 52 for no loss.

When the breakthrough did come, Haverhill’s opening pair had taken some of the sting out of the bowling unit.

James Scott came into the attack and again showed himself as the season’s golden arm, taking another wicket with which the batsman might have been disappointed.

Phil Palmer was miserly once more and could have been rewarded further but for decisions not going his way.

His frugality returned figures of two for 28 from his ten overs.

The Haverhill batsmen accumulated well throughout the innings without anyone making a telling contribution.

Big hitting wasn’t the order of the day, with many batsmen falling looking to push the scoring along. Despite this, the home side made it to a score of 183 for nine, which looked to be slightly over par, with captain Adam Dellar the highest contributor with 37.

Wickets were shared around among the Mistley bowlers but, like in previous weeks, the Stour men could look back on a number of missed opportunities in the field.

The Swans made the worst possible start in reply, with Graeme Butcher falling early on when offering the keeper the opportunity to make amends for dropping an almost identical chance from Palmer.

James Scott quickly followed and Mistley were already in the mire.

After steadying the ship, Palmer, with runs hard to come by, was adjudged lbw sweeping.

The visitors’ hopes were with captain Goff but there was to be no repeat of last week’s heroics as he was well caught at cover after a bright start.

Stamatis was playing a disciplined innings at the other end and any thoughts of victory now appeared to fall on his young shoulders.

Shortly after, Adrian Stockton was dismissed for a duck.

The dark black clouds then came into view, leaving the sky leaden and the scoreboard shining brightly in the gloom.

Play was halted while everyone waited for the blustery weather to disperse the heavy cloud.

When the brighter skies appeared, play resumed but the contest became a little fractious.

When Stamatis was dismissed for a well-made 44, some unnecessary scenes from the fielders led the umpires to feel the need to step in.

The game continued in this vein with the home side desperate to push for victory, time their nemesis as the visitors were left hoping that luck would bail them out of their precarious position.

Experienced campaigner Stuart Dove stuck around to marshal the lower order before time was called on proceedings late in the day.

Play finished with the visitors 125 for eight, as the gloom set in once more.

Significant improvement is needed if they are to build on the unbeaten run that the captain has spoken of maintaining.