Staffordshire had to be content with a draw on their NCCA Championship visit to Lincolnshire.
Lincs, ultimately, batted out the final couple of sessions with relative ease after they had been set 351 to win from what turned out to be 72 overs.
The home side reached 196-5 before the sides shook hands on a draw in the Division One East game at Cleethorpes.
Imp County captain Joe Kendall (41), Nic Keast (49no) and Jordan Cook (34) all made valuable contributions to ensure Staffordshire couldn’t back up their opening-round victory at Bedfordshire.
Still, a win and a draw from two away games isn’t to be sniffed at, but having manoeuvred themselves into a promising position over the previous two days, there will be a tinge of disappointment that Lincs managed to salvage something tangible from the contest.
There may well be question marks over the timescale and target left by skipper Peter Wilshaw as he asked the home side to make the highest score of the match to win – and also at the quickest rate.
But Wilshaw is not the first Staffs captain – and probably won’t be the last – to err on the side of caution when it comes to setting up last-day run chases.
Sometimes, a carrot needs to be dangled to the opposition, but hindsight is such a wonderful thing… and you can’t always legislate for a wicket flattening out as much as this one did.