INDOOR CRICKET GKN just edged Ryde II in the pick of the Harwoods Renault Indoor Cup quarter-finals at the Fairway Sports Complex on Sunday.
Ryde II were in a strong position after posting 160-4, with Jadon Buckeridge (28), Tom Roscoe (28 not out) and Mike Dalloz (27) all retiring. However, in a wonderful run chase, Martin Hartnell top-scored with 29, and was aided by 28 from Alan Johns and Steve Wright, who hit 27, GKN passing the total with just one ball to spare and three wickets remaining.
Newport also progressed after beating Ventnor by 21 runs.
Stuart Gurney smashed his way to 40 not out and Tom Dye added 29 as Newport posted 148-5. Ventnor reached 82-1 from the first six overs, but 2-28 from Harris Payne triggered a middle order collapse, Mark Whyte’s 35 in vain as Ventnor were bowled out for 127.
Ryde recovered from an awful start against Ryde Cavaliers to make it through to the last four. Cavaliers had last year’s finalists 49-4, but 28 from Lawrence Tolfrey and 25 from Rob Hobbs saw Ryde to 108 all out.
Chris Higgins did the majority of the damage for Cavaliers, taking 2-21, with Grant Richardson finishing with 2-22. Ryde’s bowling was again impressive and Cavaliers had no answer as they fell to just 28 all out with nobody reaching double figures.
Julion Jayerajah took 2-7 and Mark Oatley 2-8 as Ryde won by 80 runs.
Northwood were the final team through after a convincing six-wicket win over Island Bakeries.
Gavin Paddock was the pick of the Northwood bowlers, taking 3-6 from his three overs. Ian Simmonds with 21 not out, helped Bakeries reach a total of 74-5 from their allocation of overs.
However, Paddock showed his form with the bat too and hit 25 not out, Jeff Barrett adding 19 not out as Northwood reached the total in the tenth over without loss.