Scorecard

Tipton St John v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 05 Jul 2026 at 1.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 42 runs

Match report By Richard Lindsay

The Erratics were very grateful that Captain Fraser won the toss and elected to bat, both because it was a very warm July afternoon to be toiling in the field, but also to make the most of the batting surface at Tipton which has faced challenges since being covered with a layer of silt from the River Otter flooding last winter.

Fraser looked forward to having a bowl later in the day, as even from the start, puffs of dust erupted from the pitch. Brad Causey was an early victim of the ball getting stuck in the pitch, being caught at short cover off a leading edge, his first Erratics duck! I was lucky to not go a similar way first ball, as I chipped an attempted forward defence to a thankfully vacant spot. Duncan and I began to cautiously build a partnership, although I couldn’t resist trying to play a few shots that I probably shouldn’t have – again, not sharing the luck around, as Tipton put down a couple of chances in the field. The 104-run partnership came to an end after the first of two hydration breaks, as we both registered our top scores so far this season.

Martin Wright - more often an opening batter - mentioned afterwards that he wasn’t a fan of the nervous wait that accompanies batting in the middle order and not knowing whether you’ll be in next ball, or at all. This opinion seemed be shared by a number of the Erratics’ batters on this day, as the long wait coincided with the final 7 wickets falling for just 34 runs, although it probably also had a fair amount to do with the deteriorating silt-covered surface. Jonathan made a start, which was extinguished by the 2nd of three slip catches by Tipton’s Mark Burnard, taken from the bowling of Leo Richura – a young left-arm orthodox spin bowler who finished with 5 for 21. BYB also made a strong start, hitting three quick boundaries, before being frustrated with himself for lofting one straight to mid-on who was perfectly placed three quarters of the way out to the boundary. 160 at the interval still felt like enough runs, and so it proved to be.

Erratics opened with spin at both ends, from Fraser and BYB, who dismissed Tipton’s openers, including a catch at mid-wicket by Jerrin John-George (one of two Stokeinteignhead loanees). Tipton kept in touch with the required run rate, but they couldn’t prevent Erratics’ bowlers from taking wickets. BYB bowled Rowe with a characteristically flighted dipping ball, before Matthew Siby (our 2nd loanee) broke the rest of the top-order resistance. His first wicket was a smartly taken catch by Mark Phillips in the covers, while his second bowled Burnard, Tipton’s top scorer. Brad bowled some testing off-break and picked up two wickets, Richura caught behind by Jonathan at one end, before changing ends to dismiss Sam Thayre LBW once Brad’s enthusiastic kneeling appeal had convinced the umpire to raise his finger.

James Burrows made a returning appearance for the Erratics, his first since 2011 and the 5th longest gap between Erratics appearances. Welcome back, James! After scoring a fine boundary through mid-wicket with the bat, James was also a victim of the crumbling surface while bowling as he fell Mark Wood-style in the foot marks. He admirably dusted off his whites (which had been sat in his garage since his last appearance) and persevered to bowl his first two overs in 15 years. Duncan Chave, perhaps provoked by Tipton’s young batter suggesting that he wasn’t getting much turn, picked up the other three wickets, including by sacrificing the skin on his elbow to take a low diving catch off his own bowling. Tipton fell short of the chase, as neither side were able to complete their allotted 40 overs.

Both teams cooled down, tended to wounds, and rehydrated with a pint at The Bowd Inn while reflecting on an enjoyable game of friendly cricket.

A.N. Other1 is Jerrin John George; A.N. Other2 is Matthew Siby

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
3w 8b  
for 10 wickets
11
160		        
Duncan Chave ct F Crooks 53 70 8 75.71 1
Bradley Causey Caught  0 2 0
Richard Lindsay ct L Richura 62 81 9 76.54 1
Martin Wright ct H Goldthorpe 3 16 18.75
A.N. Other1 b L Richura 1 5 20.0 1
Jonathan Kirby ct L Richura 9 13 2 69.23 1
A.N. Other2 ct H Goldthorpe 0 5 0
Ben Yarde-Buller ct R Williams 14 12 3 116.67 1
James Burrows ct L Richura 4 13 1 30.77
Fraser Chave Not Out  3 5 60.0 1
Mark Phillips ct L Richura 0 4 0 1

Tipton St John Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ross Williams6.0121210.503.50
David Alford6.012300.003.83
Phil Wright5.003900.007.80
Freddie Crooks6.0215115.002.50
Harry Goldthorpe8.0233216.504.13
Leo Richura6.512154.203.07

Tipton St John Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
11nb 2w 5b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
19
118 (35.1 overs)		     
Reece Whittington ct F Chave 9 20 2 45.00
David Thayre ct B Yarde-Buller 8 9 2 88.89
Mark Burnard b M Siby 30 59 6 50.85
David Rowe b B Yarde-Buller 9 13 1 69.23
Freddie Crooks ct M Siby 3 15 20.0
Leo Richura ct B Causey 4 16 1 25.00
Sam Thayre lbw B Causey 9 26 1 34.62
Harry Goldthorpe ct D Chave 9 33 1 27.27
David Alford ct D Chave 4 3 1 133.33
Ross Williams Not Out  9 13 2 69.23
Phil Wright ct D Chave 5 14 1 35.71

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Fraser Chave8.0219119.002.37
Ben Yarde-Buller8.0131215.503.87
A.N. Other27.021829.002.57
Bradley Causey5.031226.002.40
James Burrows2.001500.007.50
Duncan Chave5.111735.673.29