Cameron Mitchell was unbeaten on 87. Picture by Robin Crossley.
CRICKETRYDE’S great start to the Hampshire Cricket League season continued apace last weekend, as they defeated Portchester at Harding Shute.
After winning the toss, Ryde elected to field first. Portchester enjoyed a good scoring pace for the first 15 overs, mainly thanks to Steve O’Neill (28).
Julian Jayerajah (1-29), returning to the side after school commitments, was in impressive form with the ball and had the dangerous O’Neill stumped by an excellent leg side take from Tom Morgan.
This was the first of five dismissals for Morgan as Ryde went to work on the visitors’ middle order.
Aussie Dale Hackett (5-26) bowled superbly and at one stage was on a hat-trick. His aggressive off spin was too much for the opposition and it was only Lee Hungerford (40 not out) who could hold his ground.
Ryde’s fielding again was tight and to add to Morgan’s fine keeping, Cameron Mitchell made no mistake with two catches and Portchester exited for 158.
In reply, Portchester started strongly through Dave O’Neill (1-16) and Aussie Jamie Ryan (2-34). They gave very little to the home side’s batsmen and created chances regularly.
They shared the important wickets of Hackett, Tolfrey and Morgan but couldn’t dislodge Mitchell who looked determined to stick it out. Portchester decided to bowl the two straight through and with such a low total would’ve been disappointed to only pick up three wickets in the first 20 overs.
As Ryde had hoped, the first and second change bowlers didn’t match up to the openers and run scoring became easier. Mitchell led the way with a fine unbeaten 87 and steadily increased his scoring rate towards the end of the innings. He hit the left-arm spinner Hungerford for three huge sixes into the trees. The Ryde middle order supported him to the end and when the total was passed they had only lost three more wickets.
It was another convincing performance from the ever improving Ryde side and they picked up another 22 points for their efforts.
Ryde II enjoyed a great win at Burley in Regional Division 1 South of the Hampshire League on Saturday.
The Islanders put on 107 for the opening wicket with Andy Gillett scoring 44 and Calvin Dickinson, 15, hitting an excellent 61. Despite a wobble in mid-innings losing five wickets for 22 runs, they recovered very well with captain Darren Hall hitting a quick 55, including five sixes, and Dominic Hillyard adding an unbeaten 27 to finish on 210-6.
Burley, in reply, could not respond to a good all-round bowling performance from Ryde, the highlight coming from youngster Andy Davis, with 3-24. They wrapped up the game just before the rain came, as Burley finished on 157.
• More pictures from the match in the Friday, June 8, County Press.