Charlie Millington, left, presents the Peter Corney Award for services to Island cricket to Howard Downer. Picture by Laura Holme.
PICTURE GALLERY
CRICKETTHE annual presentation night for the IW Cricket Board had its fair share of surprises — but for one stalwart member of the organisation, the shock was plain to see.
Treasurer Howard Downer was tricked by his colleagues at the board into thinking someone else was going to receive the final award of the night, the Peter Corney Award for services to Island cricket.
So when master of ceremonies Keith Newbery began explaining their sneaky plan, then describing the recipient, the 65-year-old from Ryde began to blush — a lot.
Mr Newbery paid tribute to Mr Downer’s work since joining the board around 25 years ago, not only as treasurer but as organiser of the annual handbook, and of the presentation night.
He said: "He is the nuts and bolts man of Island cricket, and without his input the entire edifice would begin to creak and come apart.
"He should have won this award many years ago, of course, but every time it was suggested he always managed to find a reason why it should be presented to someone else he considered more deserving. He did the same this year — but on this occasion the board got the better of him and decided to go behind his back."
After the presentation, Mr Downer, who is also chairman of Ryde Golf Club, said: "I didn’t have a clue. It was only when he started talking about when I was playing for Ventnor and Ryde that the penny dropped.
"The role I have has changed so much since I started. At the beginning the only money we had was the proceeds of a raffle at the MCC game, and now we have massive turnovers to deal with."
Young Ventnor cricketer Billy Clarke was the other big winner of the night, taking home the Under-17s golden moment award, a special award for centurions and the coveted Bill and Valerie Palmer Memorial Award for outstanding young player of the year.
It was the first year the award included Valerie’s name since she died, and the audience gave warm applause after a tribute was paid to her by Charlie Millington.
Billy won the awards after hitting an outstanding 154 for the IWCB Under-17s in a county championship match away to Gloucestershire. His great season also stretched to club cricket, after hitting 75 for Ventnor on his Southern Electric Premier League debut.
The wicketkeeper-batsman, 16, who goes to Sandown Bay Academy, said: "It was my grandad, Jack, who got me into cricket when I moved to the Island.
"When I scored that 154, it just sort of came to me, you don’t think about it at the time."
For the County Press cricket awards, Ventnor’s Mark Whyte collected his 20th wicketkeeping award, while Northwood’s Matt Heelan collected the batting award. Simon Goldsmith, dubbed the Peter Pan of Island cricket by Mr Newbery, won the bowling award for Northwood, as well as the "top of the averages" prize for Division 1.
Bembridge all-rounder Mano Obeysekere was the other double prize-winner on the night, but was not present to collect his Division 2 leading run-scorer and leading wicket-taker awards.
• Full list of results in the Friday, November 18, County Press.
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