CATTISTOCK 247-6 (14pts) drew with SHILLINGSTONE 247-9 (13pts)

CATTISTOCK narrowly failed to complete the chase but earned a draw with two runs from the final ball against Shillingstone in County Division One.

The hosts lost the toss and had to bowl first for the first time in a while.

However, Ollie Lee (4-38) made an instant breakthrough in the second over, clean bowling one opener.

Lee followed that by having the Shillingstone captain caught behind by Steve Tucker.

Shillingstone went into a rebuilding mode and frustrated the home side's bowlers as they past 100 without losing their third wicket.

Jon Legg (2-45) came on and broke the partnership, bowling Steve Savage with the score on 111.

Another partnership developed and once again it was Legg that broke it, bowling Harry Morgan with Shillingstone on 167.

From here on, Cattistock took regular wickets and were able to stop the set batsman from launching an attack in the closing overs.

Bradley Damen (2-52) and Ben Golledge (1-20) took wickets in the middle order before Ollie Lee returned to take two wickets in three balls and leave Shillingstone nine men down for 247 runs.

Cattistock started steadyily, slowly accumulating runs, looking to build a the platform for the chase.

Despite the steady start, the home side still lost regular wickets.

Jason Bradley (9) was first to go, followed by Billy Wallbridge (10) just 19 runs later.

Brandon Ward (14) put on a 45-run partnership with Jon Legg before being dismissed.

Steve Tucker (14) and Liam Toohill (0) soon returned to the pavilion to leave the chase at 107-5, still requiring 141 runs for victory.

Legg was in and set when Ben Golledge came to the crease when some intelligent batting ensued.

The duo worked the ball around well and punished the odd bad ball including an monstrous six hit high into the trees off the blade of Golledge.

As Cattistock reached the 40th over the score was 191, still needing 57 runs at a touch over 11 an over for victory.

Golledge then fell in the 41st over for a fine 44 trying to clear the trees but instead chipping a simple return catch to the bowler.

Despite this, 13 runs were still taken in that over to keep the home side up with the rate.

In the 42nd over, 11 runs came off before 10 off the 43rd and 12 off the 44th over, the latter of which saw Legg reach his century off 109 balls.

Going into the final over, 11 runs were needed for victory.

An early boundary was vital but new man Sam Baker (13no) was unable to find it and had to settle for ones and twos.

Off the last ball, three runs were required but Baker hit the ball out to long on and Legg (109no) managed to come back and complete the second run to tie the match.

Cattistock captain Brad Damen said: "It was disappointing to give them so many runs with the extras although I am really happy with the attitude of the bowlers.

"We went for long periods without taking a wicket but they stuck to their task and were able break the partnerships.

"With our batting, it is unfortunate to finish just one run short of our target, however, when you look at how we played in the last five overs, going consistently above 10 runs an over it was a great effort to even get ourselves level with the opposition.

"Special mention must go to Ollie for his performance with the ball and Leggy (Jon Legg) for that very classy unbeaten 100."