Tipton St John were involved in a thrilling game with Met Office, one that was ultimately decided off the final delivery of the contest, writes Phil Wright.

The visiting Met Office team won the toss, batted first and were 62-3 at the midway point of their innings.

The in-form Mark Channon was again amongst the wickets with his eight overs seeing him return impressive figures of 3-10.

David O’Higgins was more expensive with 42 runs coming off his spell, but he did claim two wickets and his flighted deliveries caused plenty of problems for the batsmen.

Tipton’s troubles started when Alex Tubbs came to the crease. Normally seen playing for Tipton or Ottery, Alex was guesting for the visitors with father and Tipton ‘weatherman’ Chris Tubbs.

Tubbs Jnr showed no consideration for his regular team mates and blasted 67 off 50 balls before being bowled by Phil Wright.

The Met Office innings was only ended by the return of David Birch who took the last three wickets in one over, including his 500th Tipton wicket. Birch ended with 3-11, but the Met Office closed on a most competitive 182.

The Tipton reply began well with early runs from Keith Collins (34) and Dave Alford (27).

Batsman number four, Phil Tolley, saw colleagues come and go at the other end until the arrival at the crease of Jem Gillham. The pair were together for half-an-hour during which time they put on 41 with the Gillham contribution being eight runs.

It was Met Office bowler Ian Lisk, with 2-11 from eight excellent overs, that kept the run rate down and, with seven overs to go, the runs required were 50!

Alex Tubbs entered the fray with the ball for the Met Office and quickly whipped out two of the home side and, when the final over began, Tipton required 14 to win with the final over bowled by Tubbs!

Tolley hit the first ball to the boundary and the second saw two more runs added. Deliveries three and four were dot balls – but another boundary off the penultimate ball meant one more four and the home side would snatch a dramatic win.

Tolley blasted the ball to the distant mid-on boundary where it was plucked out of the air by Yash Pradham leaving Tipton three runs short.

Tolley had scored 73 off 59 balls, but that man Tubbs took the individual honours with 3-25 to go with his earlier 67 runs.