PAUL COOK said he is the "happier of the two captains" after day one of Lincolnshire's Minor Counties Championship final against Dorset.

Dorset, who won the toss and elected to bat first in the match at Dean Park, in Bournemouth, were bowled out for 245. Lincs will begin their reply today after the umpires called bad light at the end of the home side's innings.

Although the match is well poised, Imp County skipper Cook believes his side had the better day yesterday.

"We were going to bat first if we'd won the toss," he said.

"If we'd been told then that they would be all out for 245 at the end of the day we'd have been happy with that.

"I'm definitely the happier of the two captains. If we were in their position I wouldn't be very happy.

"I don't think Dorset have done themselves justice.

"A few of their players didn't come off yesterday.

"But we've got to make sure we do the job with the bat tomorrow and bat our 90 overs.

"With the attacking style we play, if we bat our 90 overs we should be well in front of them."

The locals among the crowd all say the Dean Park pitch breaks up very quickly after the first day of play, so it is vital Lincs bat well as they will not want to be chasing a significant total in their second innings.

"There have been a lot voices around the ground saying the track will break up, and looking at it yesterday morning we thought that as well which is why we would have batted first," said Cook.

"But actually the track played a lot better yesterday than we thought it would.

"However, we've got to make sure we get all our runs in the first innings, rather than having to score a lot of runs in the second innings."

Brett Houston was the star bowler yesterday with five wickets for 52 runs, while Aaron Onyon chipped in with four for 96.

Cook paid tribute to the hard-working pair, who between then sent down 52 of the 81 overs bowled.

"They both bowled very well individually and as a partnership," he said.

"Brett's bowled well all season.

"We needed another performance from him and we got it and Aaron has also done really well.

"Even when there was a bit of a partnership for the third wicket, we stuck at it well and got the breakthrough."