After being soundly beaten by Stokeinteignhead two weeks earlier it took a strange turn of events to see Tipton travelling down beside the Teign for another encounter, writes Phil Wright.

They were due to take on Tedburn St Mary, but this was cancelled as they could not raise a side.

Then a game against Kays CC from Worcester, arranged at the last minute, was cancelled on Saturday morning as a result of a poor weather.

All was not lost however, as Stokeinteignhead stepped in at the last minute offering a game on Sunday.

Both captains had to seek out players and Tipton were bolstered by young Matthew Jeacock who becomes Tipton player number 278.

Although Tipton mustered only 10 players – including two 11-year-olds, the hosts could only manage nineand thankfully did not include Dan Bratcliffe who scored 138 in the meeting just two weeks before.

The toss was won by David Birch who chose to bat on a cloudy afternoon. As has happened in recent games, Tipton batsmen gave their wickets away with some careless shots. Steve Walker (6) Keith Collins (18) and Dave Alford (2) were all caught, but Dave Thayre was beaten by a good ball and bowled by Chako for 20. When Tipton lost Tom Birch for eight they were 62-5 and a low total was likely.

Up stepped a Lawrence Walker and Matthew Jeacock who shared a lengthy partnership of 35 before Walker jnr was caught after scoring 22.

A further unbroken partnership of 27 between Jeacock and David Birch took the score to 124-6 at the close with 10-year-old Jeacock unbeaten on 14.

Stokeinteignhead started their reply brightly, but 4-13 by David Birch took out the top order.

A recovery took the home side to 94-5 but Phil Wright with 2-8 and Matthew Jeacock adding a wicket to his good innings ended their resistance and Tipton won by 21 runs.