Thanks to Graeme for this latest report from Ventnor Cricket Club. Ed
Mark Holmes’ side produced an efficient performance to generally dominate proceedings but were denied victory by the visitors’ last wicket pair who survived the closing overs to finish on 192-9.
Batting first, the hosts were given a 98 run start by openers Jake George and Ben Duggan before the former departed for a fluent 46. Left hander Duggan, who has acquitted himself so impressively in his first season as Premier Division player, went on to make a splendid 83 and with Ollie Mills contributing 52 and Marc-Antony Eysele 33, the Islanders closed their innings on 252-7 from 64 overs, probably 25 runs short of an ideal total on a flat pitch.
Ventnor’s seam attack of Holmes and Adam Wilson made early breakthroughs before a third wicket partnership of 75 between Young and McManus led a recovery. In an impressive spell, however, Wilson returned to the attack to dismiss both for 53 and 36 respectively to leave his side in the driving seat. Leg spinner Ian Hilsum gave little away in an effective 14 over stint to return 3-31 and with Eysele taking 2-44, the pair took their team to the brink of a welcome win before Richard Taylor’s unbeaten 41 frustrated them.
The team travel to Lymington on Saturday.
Snell’s fine hundred maintains winning run
A tremendous undefeated innings of 115 from Rob Snell led Ventnor to a fourth successive win at Sarisbury Athletic II in Hampshire League Division 1 on Saturday.
Left hander Snell, who has struggled with a knee injury for much of the season, paced a fine knock expertly to lead a 249 run chase, striking nine fours and four sixes in an impressive run- a- ball innings. The Ventnor all-rounder received support in a 71 run partnership for the third wicket from Pierre Kriel (33) before Martin Blackman lent his backing with 29 to keep the visitors in the hunt. At 193-6 and with much work still to be done, skipper Ben Woodhouse joined Snell and the pair saw their side home without further loss, adding 56 to clinch a hard earned win with 2.5 overs remaining.
Earlier in the proceedings, Sam Freemantle’s hard hit innings of 101 dominated Sarisbury’s 248 all out with man of the match Snell, Hugh Calloway, Ben Herridge and David Beven each taking two wickets.
This latest victory keeps Ventnor on the coat tails of the top two in Division 1 with second placed Lymington II next up at Steephill on Saturday at 1pm.
Seven wicket loss for Island league team
Ventnor’s Island League team were defeated by seven wickets in Saturday’s match with Northwood at Steephill.
James Attrill hit six fours in maiden half century for the home team, his knock of 51 at the top of the order giving his side a 74 run start in partnership with Mark Price who made 37.
The introduction of Simon Goldsmith to the Northwood attack made run scoring difficult, the wily old slow left armer taking 3-9 from seven overs as Ventnor slipped to 130 all out from 40 overs.
Chris Hebberd picked up a couple of wickets for the hosts after tea, but the Cowes side won comfortably inside 29 overs.
Narrow defeat for plucky Under 15s
Ventnor’s under 15 side gave their Basingstoke counterparts a run for their money before narrowly losing by six runs in Sunday’s ECB National Club Championship tie at Steephill.
Batting first, the visitors totalled 143-2 from their 20 overs, Harry Ridley the pick of the pick of the bowlers with 1-21 from his four overs.
In reply, Ventnor lost key batsman Ben Herridge for 28 but James Attrill (37) and Morgan Perrin (33) continued to chase down the total in spirited fashion. As the overs ticked away, Freddie Marshall hit a quickfire 16 and Cameron Bartlett 9 but their efforts ended in disappointment as Basingstoke edged home in a tight finish.
Cup win for under 13s
In a tense Mal Sketchley Memorial County Cup Final, Ventnor defeated Ryde Cavaliers by just four runs at Newclose last Wednesday evening.
Batting first, Dan Cox and Ben Attrill each scored 30 as Ventnor set Cavaliers a total of 132 to chase in the 20 overs a side contest.
Ben Attrill and Zeph Wells bowled tightly for their side, leaving Cavaliers to score 50 to win from the final five overs. Flynn Powell with 30 got his side close but an excellent closing over from Attrill won the match for Ventnor in an exciting finale.
Ventnor now represent the Island at Horsham next Tuesday where they take on Guildford in the first regional round.
Image: Britanglishman under CC BY 2.0
