Tipton St John triumph in tight thriller

After two washed out weekends, Tipton batsman were raring to go at Yarcombe & Stockland, but were held at bay by good bowling from the home side in the early stages.
Phil Tolley was caught on the boundary having scored just 8 but David Thayre and Dave Alford advanced the score to 63 before Thayre was trapped LBW by Brett Venables for 40 and Alford (18) went the same way to the bowling of Matt Webb.
The arrival of John Buckland to join Nick Wright changed the momentum as he struck 50 off just 28 balls. Good partnerships with Wright and Owen Smith helped take the score to 174-6 before a late flurry of wickets saw Tipton dismissed for 202 in the last of the 35 overs. Buckland was caught behind for 97 off 61 balls.
In reply, the home opening batsmen started slowly but had reached 102 before the first wicket was taken, Will Lamb being bowled by Mark Channon for 50.
Brett Venables was caught in the deep by Buckland for a single off the bowling of Phil Wright, but Jonathon Triner and Mark Gleeson took the score to 173 and in sight of victory when the innings collapsed.
Triner was bowled by Buckland just two short of his century, then six wickets fell for the addition of just 22 runs. There were five ducks including two run out as they tried to up the scoring rate, whilst Buckland hit the stumps three times to take 3-7 off 4 overs. Dave Thayre with 2-14 was on a hat-trick, but Arun Lovell avoided this, only to be one of the batsmen to be run out without scoring.
Crucially, with Gleeson stranded at the non-strikers end on 34, Buckland bowled a wicket maiden in the last over, Matt Webb being the batsman bowled, leaving Tipton winners by just six runs.
With his 97 runs, three wickets, two catches and involvement in both run-outs, John Buckland was the obvious recipient of the inaugural ‘John Williamson player of the match’ award.