Tipton St John lose close encounter with Tedburn St Mary

The match started very well for Tipton with bowlers David Birch and Own Smith dominating.

Tipton debutant Toby Scrimshaw was soon in the action and gave Birch a wicket when he took a good catch at mid-wicket to remove Archie Osborne for a single.

This was followed by a wicket for Smith who bowled Willoughby, before there was a good partnership between Austin and Parsons.

This ended when Andrews had to retire on 17 with an injury to his knee.

Tom Birch and Phil Wright took a wicket each, but Tedburn managed to set a target of 139-6 as Reece Whittington took a couple of wickets just before the close.

Tipton’s reply did not start well with key batsman Dave Thayre being given out LBW for a single.

Luke Phillips and Patrick Smith took the score to 27 when Phillips gave a return catch to Osborne for 17, and Smith followed him back to the pavilion when caught behind by White off Barlow for 7.

Tipton’s prospects now seemed to rest with John Buckland and whether the remaining batters could give him the support with still over 100 runs needed.

Toby Scrimshaw scored 4 before being caught at mid-wicket.

Amelia Tolley was playing a supporting role until he was bowled by Barlow for a single, but Tipton’s real hope of victory was ended when Buckland was caught at deep long off having scored 44 off 60 balls.

This triggered 4 wickets falling for just 1 run.

Reece Whittington was caught and bowled by Parsons for 3 and Sam Stone was bowled by the returning Osborne for a duck.

David Birch made just a single, bowled by Parsons leaving Tipton on a perilous 86-9, still 54 runs from victory with still 12 overs remaining.

Phil Wright was prized from the scorehut to join Owen Smith.

The pair were more concerned with survival than reaching the distant target as the score went past the 100 mark.

Smith took the upper hand in the partnership hitting a couple of boundaries, whilst Wright rolled back the years and became chief caller and scamperer.

After running 6 x twos the pair found it somewhat of a challenge with a joint age of 137.

After 33 overs with 113 on the board with just 27 needed off 7 overs, the pair realised the impossible may well be possible when Wright hit a boundary through mid-wicket.

Tedburn realised this also as the field was set back and Allison was recalled, and he put the brakes on, conceding just 9 off his remaining 4 overs.

A boundary by Smith off Willoughby in the 37th over raised hope for Tipton, but Allison bowled a maiden to Smith in the 38th to swing the game back to Tedburn, so 12 were needed off the final 2 overs, but just 3 came from the penultimate.

The last over by Allison with the field set back yielded 5 singles, but that was not enough as Tipton closed on 137-9 losing by just 2 runs.

Smith was not out on 23 from 44 balls with Wright on 20 from 31 in a 10th wicket stand of 51.