Old Habs drew with high-flying Clarendon at Croxdale Road on Saturday afternoon.

OH's Mike Filer lost the toss and the hosts were asked to bat on a fine pitch and outfield, a tribute to the hard work of OH groundsman Nick Searle.

Old Habs' highly successful opening partnership of Rick Harris and Alex Haffner began solidly.

They notched 20 runs from the first ten balls. Fired up by this, they accelerated to 55 off 20, then 93 off 30 as Haffner pushed singles through gaps in the opponents' fielding structure. Harris made his 50 off 79 balls. The opening stand ended at 93 with Haffner out for 39 in the 31st over.

This was followed by a series of quick wickets. Firstly, Haroon Ahmad was out for a rapid fire 16 then Harris was out for 58, leaving OH on 123 in the 40th over.

Just as it seemed that an England-style collapse was on the cards, OH's new look middle order of Salman Bajwa, Mohsin Geewhala and skipper Paul Eversfield stepped into the breach.

This trio crashed the ball around, scoring at more than a run per ball taking 21, 36 and 27 respectively. With the last two overs going for 23, Old Habs ended on 220-5, setting their visitors a stiff target.

When it came to Clarendon's reply, OH lined up Eversfield and Bennett to face their guests' openers.

With the former's eight overs going for only 16, and Bennett bowling reasonably at the other end, Habs did well to contain Clarendon at only two per over.

Then OH made a breakthrough, taking the first wicket in the 14th over thanks to an excellent diving catch from Sami Ali at gully.

Clarendon brought on their number three batsman. A player who has averaged 170 this season.

As Bennett tired he was replaced by Filer, and Eversfield switched ends to bowl seam. And this tactic immediately rewarded Eversfield, who bowled out Clarendon's other opener, putting the visitors on 50-2 in the 18th over.

However, the problem of the number three batsman remained. He was a big left-hander whose tremendous power, and good eye, meant runs were rapidly racked up.

Old Habs decided to bring the new ball in for the 26th over, and Eversfield recalled Bennett, and introduced Bajwa to the attack. He took a wicket in his first over, an excellent catch in the slips by Harris.

Clarendon's big number three was finally dismissed when he fired the ball to deep square leg boundary, where Martyn Chu intercepted it.

In the next over, poor communications by Clarendon between the wickets, enabled OH skipper Eversfield run out his opposite number. This left the visitors dead in the water on 121-6 in the 33rd over.

Needing 100 off the last 14 overs and with only four wickets in hand, Clarendon's batsmen seemed unsure how to approach the situation.

Mike Filer came back in an attempt to break the deadlock, and skipper Eversfield reverted to spin, but neither tactic worked until the 42nd over.

When a Clarendon slogger put two past Atif at mid off, the OH man was tactfully switched with Bennett to mid on.

The next ball went high, straight to mid on, although Atif redeemed himself by catching the ball.

For a final assault in the last six overs, Old Habs brought Bajwa back, and Eversfield bowled seam.

A short ball from Eversfield was played awkwardly to short leg where Ahmad snapped it up.

When Bajwa bowled out the visitors' number seven Clarendon were nine wickets down, with five balls remaining.

Off the third ball there was a half-chance, as the number 11 lofted it tantalisingly over Atif at mid off, but he did not pick up the flight early enough, and the game was drawn.