HAWARDEN PARK have appealed against the ruling that they conceded their Premier Division fixture with St Asaph.

After bowling 5.5 overs of the second innings the heavens opened with rain falling for around an hour and a half.

With the rain stopped and after an inspection of the pitch, the surface was deemed playable by umpires David Jones and Ian Baker.

Despite advice from the groundsman, himself a qualified umpire, the restart was set for 6pm.

On returning to the field, wicket-keeper Wes Sleep slipped in his position behind the stumps, while both bowlers - Mike Wootton and Campbell Marr - felt unsafe in their ability to bowl as they needed with St Asaph chasing just 89 from 24.1 overs.

After Marr had followed Wootton in taking a wicket, he slipped and it was decided that the conditions were dangerous by the home side.

Captain Ian Martin, after consulting with his players, decided that it was best to take his side from the field in order to let the ground dry sufficiently.

The umpires deemed this as Hawarden conceding the game, which was brought to a close just 15 minutes before the rain returned.

Martin, who had earlier seen his team bowled out for 123, said: "We will contest the decision.

"Our issue was that areas of the square were very wet. We were willing to play, but we felt it was in the interest of safety to let the ground dry for another half an hour.

"There was only 13 minutes between inspection and restarting and it was too wet for the game to be fair for both teams."