Hours of rain ensured the points were shared in this most local of matches for the 1st XI.

Vandals' trip across the river - and the border - looked likely to be called off at some point in the afternoon, with the forecast and radar all week showing a deluge to be dumped over south east England.

Winning the toss, skipper Jonny Powell did the only thing he could in the situation and elected to field. His pre-match toss practise paid dividends this time.

The match started evenly, with Powells Oscar and Jonny limiting early run scoring opportunities for the hosts. Jonny had Chaturvedi caught at silly mid off for 20, quickly followed by Chavan for a duck who skied one, with the waiting hands of Zach Powell gobbling up the catch at cover. Ratti was caught and bowled - via the face - by Jonny for 3 before Benham was run out in comical fashion. Either batter could have been run out, such was the confusion between the two. Shepperton were 79/4.

Having found several ways to carve the ball through gully, the watchful Tim Rogers departed for a well-made 53 to the bowling of Navjot Singh, now known as 'Navdot'.

Old campaigners Woo Powell and Scott Baker showed their enduring skill and experience, bowling a combined 15-0-68-2. Woo's usual miserly bowling set the platform for Scott and others to come in and take wickets at the other end. Vandals have often seen Scott introduced at 5 down to clean up the remaining five wickets, and it looked it might go that way again when his first ball was edged through gully. The 'Shrew' soon took the wickets of Singh, plumb in front, and Captain Carney to leave Shepperton 114/7 and Weybridge Vandals looking to pounce on an unlikely opportunity of a quick run-chase.

The rain had other ideas. Light drizzle had persisted since about the 15th over and turned heavier at around 5 wickets down. Indeed Shepperton's players spent an hour and a half stood by the covers waiting to pull them on, alongside die-hard Vandal and club captain, Graham Hills, who had come to spectate under his WVCC golf brolly.

With the ball resembling Imperial Leather rather than bovine leather, bowling was becoming more and more difficult, with all bowlers either dropping short or bowling full tosses. Shepperton finished 213 all out in the final over - following two well-judged catches from Ali Booth and Oscar bowling out the final batter - with persistent rain having been set in for 50 minutes.

Bizarrely, at no point was going off the pitch even considered, but it was obvious to everyone that in no other world would the players ever get back on the pitch, let alone would they have every continued much beyond the 20th over.

The players entered the pavilion for a change into dry clothes, followed by a delicious tea laid on by Shepperton. Second helpings were taken all-round, knowing the likelihood of more play was as likely as Malaysia Airlines MH370's black box ever being found (fittingly, because it too is under a lot of water).

The 22 players enjoyed tea together and all discussed why they had just spent 3 hours in the field in the rain knowing that the game never should have continued for safety reasons - from being very wet - and would never have been able to restart. The sight that summed it up was Connor Baker wrapped up in his raincoat and his dogs enjoying a run around the wet outfield.

The umpires finally pronounced the match dead at 5:31 PM. We got a nice tea out of it.

Vandals competed well throughout and, particularly in the rain, did well to keep it together. Some improvement is needed in the field and that will develop with more training and as the season progresses.