Pouring rain on Saturday and through Sunday morning left Rugby's brook just inches from breaking its banks. There were the odd 'new water hazards' on the fairways but the greens, tees, and higher parts of the fairways were all in very good condition.

Only one foursome went to visitors Worcestershire plus half a point from Match 1 of the morning with the half between Andy Sullivan & Dale Marson playing Adam Norman and Paul Scarrett.

Making his debut in League matches, Boys Captain Sam Dodds teamed up with Ben Stafford for the first Warwickshire full point, then Captain Gareth with Ian Stranks for the biggest winning margin of the morning before Ollie Foster & Chris Doughill continued an unbeaten run from U16s pairs golf when they took their match on the 18th green.

The news from early on in the afternoon was not as good. Only Captain Gareth was up - Andy Sullivan turned for home down after being up early and all for bar Doughill, games had to be turned round although Ollie Foster was holding on to Worcs Captain Chris Heeley in that singles.

Games turn on special shots and when Sullivan hooked out of bounds on the 10th, his match seemed gone. Instead, he took another drive and flew the 338 yards all the way to the green. From then on when he missed a green, he chipped and putted to keep in the game.

Ben Stafford was in much better form than his first four holes as he turned his game round to win 4&3 and Jenkins was five under in his 5&4 win.

As Sullivan eventually won on the 18th, it still meant a point and a half had to come from somewhere. Chris Doughill provided the first part of that when he slotted home a 20ft birdie putt on the 16th to take his match 3&2. The news was still poor elsewhere with Ian Stranks 2 down with four to play and Ollie Foster a similar margin in trouble.

Ian Stranks was playing with a driver that was partly broken, something rattling round in the shaft. On the 15th tee, he decided to try and hover the club (a la Jack Nicklaus) to prevent the off-putting noise on his takeaway It worked as a swing change and four holes later, he was a one up winner.

The match was secure but Ollie Foster had squared his game on the 16th. The last two holes were halved so the additional point was our - the score 9-6.

With Staffordshire winning against Notts 9.5-5.5, Warwickshire share the lead in the Midland League. Every match from now on is a 'crunch' game and next month its away against Shropshire & Hereford.

At Northants County, on Saturday, George Woolgar from Derbyshire decimated the field in a very wet Midland Amateur Open championship winning by five shots with an eight under par total of 274.

There was good news from Ben Stafford, who made the cut and closed with a 69 for 294. Robert Bardsley did even better and had two under par rounds in his four round total of 287.

In T7th place was Andy Sullivan, who after opening with a 75, shot 210 for the next 54 holes.

Play was only stopped for 10 minutes when a couple of greens become flooded. The course conditions were so wet that instead of the normal problem, notably at Northants County, of stopping the ball near the flag, spin control was a completely reverse situation.

'You had so much difficulty actually keeping the ball on the green, said Matt Cryer, ' You had to kit so many shots with knock down clubs, just to keep the spin off the ball.

'The course played its yardage, actually every inch of every yard. The greens at Church Brampton were superb.

'Because of my back, I have only really been able to practice my short game so that has improved so much, its better than its ever been. My long game was a bit off maybe, or maybe it was because my short game has improved so much - I don't know.'

Matt actually came second with a four round total of 279, including two 68s and a 69 at Church Brampton. The points for the EU Order of Merit will take Matt right back into contention for team selection.