Tipton enjoyed two wins over the weekend with a bowler claiming a ‘fivefer’ in each game, writes Phil Wright.
Saturday's opposition were Cornish side Mount Ambrose against whom Tipton have enjoyed many high scoring encounters over the years.
This one was less of a run-fest, but just as enjoyable, maybe because the Mount Ambrose batsmen seemed to be still celebrating their recent promotion to Division Two of the Cornish League, which led them to post a modest 137!
Openers Mankee and Rodwell began positively and had reached 22 in the fourth over when skipper Dave Alford bowled Rodwell.
Two balls later, David Birch trapped Mankee in front and followed this up with the wicket of Andy Johnson, smartly taken by Phil Tolley at square leg - much to the relief of Kevin McMeeking who had dropped a straightforward chance from the same batsman off Alford in the previous over.
Recovery came and ended in the form of Andy Hulme (45) and T Wilson (38) who put on 67 for the fifth wicket.
Dave O'Higgins came in for the greatest punishment, having conceded 31 from his first fourovers, before he clean-bowled Hulme and then, quite remarkably, proceeded to embark on his third successive five-for, which he completed with three wickets in his final over, including the prized scalp of Simon Johnson first ball.
In his last two innings against Tipton, Johnson had posted fine centuries.
McMeeking delivered a tidy spell before Joe Birch wrapped things up by clean-bowling Jim Pamphlett, leaving Tipton 138 to win. Phil Essex, making a rare weekend appearance, opened with Tolley and looked purposeful before being bowled by Simon Johnson for six. Dave Thayre and Brandon Shaw followed shortly afterwards, leaving Tipton looking a little vulnerable on 44-3.
Tolley was still there, however, on 27 when he was joined by Joe Birch. The pair needed only 8 overs to add 58 runs before Birch was stumped for an eight boundary 42. Tipton were nearly home and dry with McMeeking offering Tolley watchful support when the latter was run out for 59. A couple of boundaries from Al Matthews saw the home side to their target with 15 overs to spare.
On Sunday, Tipton entertained Yarcombe & Stockland and the game saw a most rare event - a failure with the bat by Phil Tolley who was trapped leg before wicket with just one to his name.
However, Dave Thayre, hitting 72 in a healthy partnership with Al Matthews (27) - both had escapes - Matthews dropped on seven and Thayre bowled by a no-ball having only scored eight - helped boost the home innings and then guest player Manny Shazad added 68 as Tipton closed on 244-7.
The visitors batted rather aggressively and suffered as the early batsmen fell to rash shots. It was David Birch's turn to bag a 'fivefer' as he took 5-10 off four overs. John Buckland with 2-2 helped to destroy the visitors batting line up as seven fell for ducks as they lost eight wickets for just nine runs!
More care was taken by the younger players in the tail who extended the score to 27 until they were mopped up by Phil Wright who took two wickets for one run as Tipton racked up a 218 run success - this their biggest ever winning margin!
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