CRICKET
A FATHER and son combination helped Shanklin to defeat GKN at Ventnor’s Steephill ground in Division 1 of the Harwoods Renault IW League on Saturday.
GKN had posted a reasonable 163-6, with Ben Wadmore and Liam Ringer both scoring 37, but Mark Ringer chipped in with 71 for Shanklin but in the end it was down to Andy White and his son, Benjamin, 11, to score the 20 runs required for victory.
The pair had played friendlies together before but this was Benjamin’s league debut and, despite the tense finish, kept his cool and defended his wicket well, allowing Andy (23 not out) to score the winning runs.
Great bowling displays from Wadmore (4-26) and Darren Cox (3-28), were not quite enough for GKN.
Meanwhile, Northwood came back from the brink to defeat St Helens.
Chasing a total of 170, the current champions made a disastrous start with only Kerry Rice (16) reaching double figures out of the top five batsmen.
With the team teetering on 45-6, Ashley Goldsmith and uncle Simon Goldsmith stepped in to make amends, as they hit 46 not out and 48 respectively, to see Northwood home with two wickets in hand. Dave Neal contributed 26.
Earlier, Simon had taken 3-24, and Rice 4-29 as St Helens were restricted. Lee Brown (43) and Sam Rockley (44) were top-scorers.
In a low-scoring game, Newport defeated Ryde Cavaliers by eight wickets.
Harry Dye and Mark Reading took three wickets each as Cavaliers slumped to 78 all out. Graham Gregory scored 21.
In reply, Harry (53) and brother, Tom (13) hit the bulk of the runs required.
In Division 2, John Turner was in fine form, hitting the biggest individual score of the season so far — 151 — as Godshill beat Ryde III at a canter.
Godshill’s opener was well supported by Trevor Mew (29), Bill Maidment (32) and Wayne Sheath (14) as the hosts reached 275-9.
In reply, Ryde III could not get a run chase going, and finished on 104-7. Simon Berendt top-scored with 32, with Dave Winter the pick of the Godshill bowlers with 2-18.
Whitecroft recorded a good victory over Shanklin II, despite the best efforts of centurion S. Rayner.
Whitecroft posted 260, with openers Andy Potts (84) and Duncan Jupe (45) providing the bulk of the runs, and Wes Maynard (43) supporting well.
In reply, Rayner was the mainstay of the Shanklin innings with 108, but his team-mates could not support and they finished on 224-6.
Souvik Sanyal was the star man for Arreton as they defeated Freshwater.
The all-rounder hit an unbeaten 59 as his side posted 204-8, before taking 3-43 as Freshwater crumbled to 147 all out.
He was supported by opener Josh Gregory, who hit 32 runs before also taking three wickets.
A below-par batting performance from Northwood II saw them lose at home to Bembridge.
When opener Harry Collier was trapped lbw in the first over for a duck, things did not look good and, despite a rallying 47 from Phil Read, the hosts could only muster 135.
In reply, Phil McDonald got the run chase going with 35 before Dan McArthur struck an unbeaten 60 to steer the team to all the points.
Perhaps the most one-sided game of the weekend came at Newport, where the second team trounced Ryde Cavaliers II by more than 200 runs.
The hosts opened and, thanks to 85 from Andy Long, and a mammoth 128 from Stuart Gurney, reached 262-1.
In reply, it was the 31 extras which helped Cavaliers the most, as they capitulated for just 47. Two players hit five runs, with three more scoring just two.
The best of the Newport bowlers was Kev Winchcombe, who took 3-7.