Falmouth received a shock to the system on Saturday when they lost their Jolly's Drinks ECB Cornwall Premier League game with St Austell, at Trescobeas, by six wickets.

It lifted the visitors off the bottom of the table and followed up their earlier win at Wheal Eliza by three wickets in early May.

Falmouth remain in second spot, but are now just a couple of points ahead of Truro. The gap though between the champions St Just and the rest is already 41 points as the title race threatens to become a procession once again.

The Falmouth innings started well despite the early loss of Steve Williams, bowled by Simon Ellison for five. Adrian Noott with 65, that included nine fours. and Antony Angove's 47 got the total to 95 before the second wicket fell.

It was Angove that departed, three short of his 50, when he was caught behind off Steve Raven. Duncan Ayres followed lbw to Ellison for 10 and Stefan Churcher was caught behind four runs later.

Noott became the St Austell seamer's fourth victim when he was trapped in front and when Richard Kellow departed for 12 to Mike Bone the innings had subsided to 157 for 6.

Rob Eccleston and Jon Udy also went before reaching double figures but a useful 20 from Sean Turner at number nine saw the 200 up.

Gary Bone took the last three wickets to end the innings on 208, with two overs unused. Simon Ellison took four for 35 and Gary Bone three for 57. Mike Bone took two for 50.

The St Austell skipper and former Falmouth stalwart Sean Hooper opened the batting. He set his side on the way putting on 35 with Matt Ellison before Ellison was caught off George Popperwell for 13. Hooper followed, caught by Angove off Turner for 38 with the total at 78.

Hopes of a Falmouth victory disappeared, however, when the game was taken away thanks to a stand of 101 between Matt Rowe and Dan Jarman on his return from university. Rowe hit two sixes and eight fours in his 68 before being dismissed by Jon Udy.

Then, with the scores level, Mike Bone was caught behind off Udy for 13 to leave Jarman undefeated on 69.

Udy picked up two for 23 at the end. Turner's wicket cost 28 runs off nine overs while Ayres 12 overs included five maidens and cost 32 runs.

On Saturday Falmouth travel to Newquay, who have hit form recently with a couple of successive wins including last week's surprise 98 run success at Paul.

FALMOUTH

S Williams b Ellison 5

A Noott lbw b Ellison 65

A Angove c Williams b Raven 47

D Ayres lbw b Ellison 10

S Churcher c Williams b Ellison 1

R Kellow c Rowe b M Bone 12

R Eccleston lbw b M Bone 9

J Udy c Watson b G Bone 4

S Turner c Williams b G Bone 20

G Popperwell not out 6

D Neville b G Bone 6

Extras 23

Total (all out, 53 overs) 208

Fall: 12-95-129-133-157-157-173-189-196-208.

Bowling: S Ellison 16-4-35-4, G Bone 11-2-57-3, L Watson 7-1-29-0, S Raven 6-0-26-1, M Bone 13-3-50-2.

ST AUSTELL

S Hooper c Angove b Turner 38

M Ellison c Ayres b Popperwell 13

M Rowe c Turner b Udy 68

D Jarman not out 69

M Bone c Noott b Udy 13

B Hill not out 0

Extras 11

Total (4 wkts, 54.1 overs) 212

Fall: 35-78-179-208.

Did not bat: G Bone, L Watson, T Williams, S Raven, S Ellison.

Bowling: D Ayres 12-5-32-0, A Angove 11-1-51-0, G Popperwell 3-1-14-1, S Turner 9-1-28-1, D Neville 14.1-2-58-0, J Udy 5-0-23-2.

St Austell (20 pts) beat Falmouth (7pts) by six wickets.