Ryde’s Harry Wratten bowling at Newclose, with Ventnor’s Ben Attrill at the non-striking end and Ryde’s Jack Curtis in the field.
CRICKETVENTNOR edged a thrilling IW County Press Under-11 Cup final, defeating Ryde by three runs.
They won the toss at Newclose and put Ryde into bat in the pairs’ format match, in which each side starts with 200 runs and lose five runs for each wicket lost.
Ventnor started well with John Buckman and Louis Malkin bowling tightly, although Joe Martin managed to hit 15 not out for Ryde.
Ryde’s next pair of Freddie Taylor and James Moody saw the run rate increase with Taylor hitting an excellent 25 not out but again there was a run out. Harry Wratten (13 not out) and Ben Shaw (eight not out) saw Ryde’s score increase further and Ben Baker was going well until he was bowled by Ventnor captain Marcus Horton, who finished with 1-5 from his two overs.
Ben Attrill also bowled tightly and with Ryde suffering yet another run out, they lost a total of 25 runs and finished on 289.
Ventnor’s batsmen went about the task of chasing the runs with caution as they looked to protect their wickets. All of the first six batsmen remained were unbeaten, with Patrick Fairhurst scoring 14 not out, Buckman, 12 not out and George Willis, eight not out.
Jack Curtis bowled well for Ryde, going for just nine runs from his two overs and Shaw just three runs from his one over.
When the last pair of Horton and Attrill came to the crease, a Ventnor win looked a formality as they had lost no wickets but when Wratten dismissed Horton and Attrill in consecutive balls, the game swung back in Ryde’s favour.
It took the cool head of Horton to hit a four from the very last ball of the match as he finished on 19 and his team recorded a three-run win.