hopes of an upset but Clevie Wade and Quinton Burch saw champions Rangers safely to a five-wicket triumph with a partnership of 42 at Southampton Oval in this first-round clash.

The Warwick total of 119 in 42.4 overs never looked like being enough, but after an opening stand of 40 between Keith Wainwright and Olin Jones, the underdogs threatened to put something back into this match with three quick wickets.

Colt Hasan Durham carried on where he left off with a top knock of 28 by taking the first three Rangers wickets to fall. Then Ricky Hill claimed two wickets in successive deliveries to raise the pulse of a few Rangers spectators.

Durham was brought into the Warwick attack after two overs each from Daniel Caines and another colt, Stephen Bremar, and he responded with his first Western Counties wicket in his fourth over when he had Keith Wainwright caught for 19 at backward point by Kallan Johnston off a loose shot.

Just before tea, in his sixth over, Durham struck again with his flighted left-arm deliveries when he held a hot return catch to remove Jones for 25 when the score was 52.

Warwick's small following got greatest pleasure from Stevie Lightbourne's dismissal for 14 when the former Warwick man lifted a full toss from Durham to Mark Tucker at long-on when the score was 73. And when Ricky Hill got brothers Michael and Ricky Brangman off successive deliveries to make it 79 for five Warwick were starting to think an upset might be on the cards.

Michael was caught behind by Wallace Minors while attempting to drive and his older brother and captain fell to a brilliant return catch from Hill inches from the ground.

Wade and Burch saw to it that no further wickets fell when they added 42 to cross the Warwick score, with Wade taking them to the brink of victory with two driven fours off Hill, one to deep extra cover and the other to cover point. Wade finished on 22 not out and Burch 17.

Durham was Warwick's chief wicket-taker, finishing with three for 44 from 14.3 straight overs while Hill took two for 35 from 10 overs.

Earlier, Burch claimed four for 48 from 16 overs to lead the Rangers bowling, having gotten the breakthrough with a ball that moved back off the seam and knocked out Hill's middle stump in the seventh over with just 14 runs on the board and Warwick's most accomplished bat on six.

Three overs later Mark Tucker became the first of five lbw victims when Ryan Belboda beat him with an inswinger that stayed low. At 19 for two Warwick knew they had some work to do repairing the damage.

Five overs later they suffered a further setback when opener Wallace Minors was trapped lbw by Burch -- the first over after the first water break -- to make the score 31 for three.

Durham, batting at number four, and Johnny Nusum, at five, set about repairing the damage with a fourth-wicket stand of 35 in nine overs. It ended with yet another lbw decision, this one against Nusum in Clevie Wade's third over.

Nusum scored 15 runs in 34 minutes and in the space of four overs he was followed in the pavilion by Daniel Caines (69 for five) and Kallan Johnston (75 for six).

Hoyt Zuill played a captain's innings, hitting 24 not out in 56 minutes in the tail-end as he and Durham added 24 for the seventh wicket before Durham's 101-minute innings came to a close when he was trapped lbw by Burch for 28.

No other Warwick batsman reached double figures as Wade finished with three for 13 from 12 overs with three maidens while Belboda took two for 32 from 9.4 overs.

HASAN DURHAM -- The Warwick colt plays defensively during his innings of 28 on Saturday while Southampton wicket-keeper Darren Burchall looks on.