BOVEY Tracey’s A Division survival prospects look a lot brighter after they pulled off an unlikely one-wicket win over fellow strugglers Thorverton.

Heroics from ninth-wicket pair Peter Bradley and Chris Yabsley earned Bovey a victory that moved them 19 points upstream from the drop zone.

Thorverton got to 121 for one courtesy of Andy Pitt (33), Luke Vukusic (56) and Harry Choules, then stumbled 127 for four then 148 for six as Bradley (3-34) and Clifford-Bourne (2-29) got into them.

Henry Squire (17), Slaviero (22) and Alex Jopling (24no) revived the innings with lower order runs.

It looked like job done for Thorverton when they had Bovey Tracey reeling at 97 for eight chasing 221 to win.

Skipper Jake Choules (5-31) had done most of the damage at that point, aided and abetted by Ben Slaviero (2-47), George Daldorph and Alex Jopling with a wicket each.

Thorverton hadn’t been able to shift former captain and county player Pete Bradley during Bovey’s decline – and that proved their undoing.

Bradley made 71 and his ninth-wicket stand 115 with Chris Yabsley batted Bovey right back into the game.

Dismissing Bradley wasn’t the turning point Thorverton hoped for. Yabsley went on to complete a maiden 1st XI half-century as he and last-man in Ollie Clifford-Bourne (4no) reached the final over from Slaviero needing nine to win.

A Yabsley single levelled it with one ball to go. Clifford-Bourne put the last ball away for four to win it.

Seb Ansley, the Bovey Tracey captain, was almost lost for words when he started summing up the afternoon’s events.

“Well, what can you say about a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the game?” said Ansley.

“Our chase stuttered big time and at 97 for eight the message was, ‘just get us the next point’. Odds of 100/1 were given on the bench!

“Pete showed his class with a patient start before picking up the pace, and Chris showed more flamboyance with his supporting knock.

“Unreal to take it all the way to the last over. When Pete holed out on the boundary Thorverton probably thought they had it again. ‘Yabbers’ got to his maiden 50 in taking us all the way to a serious result.”