Tipton St John and Ottery St Mary marked the Queen’s platinum jubilee with a match at Ottery that went right to the final over.
Batting first, Ottery had early setbacks, losing Ben Handley in the first over, caught behind by Dave Thayre off David Birch, then Charlie Mitchell LBW to Mark Channon for two.
However, Uzayr Parker (24) Tom Jeacock (41) and Jonathon Triner (46) helped the home side establish a good score. Matt Davies claimed two of those wickets, but then Brett Venables ran himself out following a bit of stop/start hesitancy with Matt Jeacock.
From 170-6, the innings collapsed to 174 all out. This was started by Amelia Tolley bowling Matt Lovell for 15, before John Buckland bowled Matt Jeacock for 19 and had Danny Gleeson stumped by Thayre for 1. Ben Kidson wrapped up the innings bowling Pete Chapman first ball. Buckland took 3-40.
Tipton started their reply in spectacular fashion with 27 coming from the first two overs before Phil Tolley and Ben Kidson calmed down. The first two wickets scored 102, putting Tipton in a strong position, Kidson scoring 19 before being caught by Jonathon Triner off Charlie Mitchell, then Matt Brewster was bowled by Triner for 29.
A spectacular one-handed catch in the slips by Tom Jeacock saw Thayre exit for just two, then the important wicket of Tolley followed soon after, caught by Matt Jeacock off Parker for 27.
Tipton had advanced to 134-4 with good batsmen Buckland and Davies at the wicket, so with plenty of overs to spare, a Tipton win seemed likely. However, a dreadful collapse, which saw five wickets fall for just five runs, left Tipton on 139-9 with just veterans David Birch and Phil Wright at the crease and with 36 runs still needed off 10 overs.
Aided by a couple of boundaries by Birch, some streaky runs and a number of wides, the target edged closer. With just six runs to win off the final over and looking for the boundary needed, Birch was bowled by Mark Gleeson for 14, leaving Ottery victors by five runs.
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