For the second straight year Cleveland County had the satisfaction of holding mighty cup holders Bailey's Bay to a draw at Sea Breeze Oval on Saturday in an Eastern Counties Cup match that saw both teams brave wet conditions to have the game completed.

With obvious approval of the fans -- and after three major rain interruptions -- both teams deserved credit for confronting difficult weather conditions during the last four hours and playing in a light drizzle so that those thirsting for excitement could be entertained. Overall some 151 minutes was lost because of rain, all during Cleveland's innings.

A dramatic climax was narrowly averted when Charlie Marshall -- facing deadly spinner Hasan Durham in the last over of the day with 13 runs remaining for victory and five of his team's wickets left intact -- decided against taking any risks and allowed the game to end in an uneventful draw.

Victory was indeed reachable for the champions, but who could blame them for risking all when a draw would put them into the final against St. David's on September 2? The game hung in the balance when Bay entered the last 20 overs with their total on 32 for the loss of three and skipper Ricky Hill and Marshall at the wicket.

But as the pair were being well contained by spinner Durham and Johnny Richardson any hopes Bay had of reaching their winning target quickly dissipated.

Then much to the surprise of many, Cleveland skipper Aaron Adams replaced the bowlers with the score on 58 for three, opting for seamer Corey Lowe and spinner Peter Philpott. Although Lowe was to bowl Hill for 34 to make the score 96 for four, the scoring rate did increase and brought Bay closer to their target -- even though Marshall was lucky to escape with a dropped catch.

When veteran Noel Gibbons was dismissed for a duck, after failing to turn a ball from Andre Smith to square leg and was brilliantly stumped, the momentum shifted once again with the now inspired Cleveland team about to take the initiative and the champions now uncomfortably placed on 101 for five.

But with three overs left and 22 runs needed for victory it remained to be seen if Marshall and new bat Jermaine Outerbridge would be adventurous enough to take up the challenge.

Both attempted a couple of aggressive strokes to dislose their obvious intentions, but when fine fielding prevented any boundaries the task became only more difficult.

With two overs left and 16 required to win and Durham and Richardson called back to spearhead the attack, the plight of the batsmen became even more difficult.

Much to the dismay of Richardson, Curtis Jackson dropped Outerbridge off what was the eighth last ball of the day and after this escape Marshall decided to avoid any heroics and play out the final over from Durham without any fanfare.

Marshall was not out on 37 after facing 67 balls.

Young fast bowler Andre Smith was Cleveland's best bowler with two for 12 off five overs, including three maidens.

The batting highlights on the wet wicket belonged to Cleveland's Jermaine Postlethwaite who was the game's top scorer with an innings of 64.

Like Bay, who had Cal Dill dismissed in the first over for five, Cleveland also suffered the agony of losing an early wicket when Jackson (four) was bowled by Anthony Braithwaite with just five runs scored.

It was largely Postlethwaite's batting stability that allowed Cleveland to slowly claw their way towards their final mediocre total as he defied the inspired attack by producing an array of shots when his team were hovering at 54 for four.

When Postlethwaite eventually departed with the score was 97 for seven, it wasn't long before the end came for Cleveland. Andre Smith was the only other player in double figures with 13.

Braithwaite led Bay's bowling attack with four for 49 off 13 overs while Jermaine Outerbridge had two for nine, Gibbons two for 17 and Clarkie Trott two for 35.