Warwickshire's Rikki Clarke hit a breezy 74 against Oxford MCC Universities to lighten up the gloom as cricket made one of its earliest starts to the season in The Parks on Monday.

Clarke’s fluent knock off 67 balls included 13 fours, and took the visitors to 195-4 off 45 overs on a rain-affected opening day of the two-day warm-up match.

The early start to the season had officials scratching their heads as to whether cricket had taken place in The Parks in March before. The common consensus was that it hadn’t.

And Neil Harris, in his 14th season scoring for Oxford University, said: “This is the first time I have scored in March in The Parks.”

Despite the damp conditions, play started on time, with an hour’s action before the rain arrived.

A full afternoon’s session followed before further rain washed out play for the day.

New Oxford seamer Michael Barnard made his mark with the wickets of Varun Chopra (21) and Jim Troughton (10), while Ian Westwood made 37 before falling to Duncan Bradshaw.

Off-spinner Sam Agarwal dismissed Clarke, with Tim Ambrose unbeaten on 38 at the close.

Scores: Warwickshire 195-4 (R Clarke 74) v Oxford MCC Universities.