Newport CC won the Isle of Wight Senior Cricket Cup Final at Newclose cricket ground against Northwood CC to secure the league and cup double on Saturday 20th August.
Newport skipper Gareth Bricknell lost the toss, and his team were asked to have a bowl. The wicket had a green tinge, and the bowling attack was strong. It was no surprise when opening bowler Louis Payne uprooted one of the Northwood openers middle stump early on, a beautiful sight for any fast bowler the stump cartwheeling out of the ground. Fellow opener Aaron Hartup continued his fine form and was unlucky not to get any early wickets but started with two maiden overs. Classy Northwood opening bat Andy Harris (21) looked in fine touch from the start but after Payne took what looked like a painful tumble, the Newport paceman had him caught at first slip. A super and massively important grab by Tom Dye.
The opening bowlers had a well-deserved rest and were replaced by Ash Brett and Adam Wilson, with the latter picking up 2 wickets in his 1st over both caught in the slips, firstly by Ryan Young, who took an excellent chance to his right before the catch of the match and a 2nd for Dye who, despite having ‘Keeper Kevin Winchcombe diving across him, dived & flung out a left hand and then took the catch in the same hand at the 2nd attempt.
After some very stubborn resistance from the middle-order Northwood batsman, Brett then got in on the act, taking 3 quick wickets, leaving the Northwood innings in disarray. This included catches from the skipper as well as one for Winchcombe, who kept wicket flawlessly. There was a wicket each for the spin twins of Cam Beale and Harry Dye and one also for the returning Hartup. Despite some good, lusty blows from Dave Neale, who made a creditable half-century with 51no, Northwood were all out for 131. It had been an excellent display in the field by the Newport, a real team effort.
The Newport reply began with openers Brett and Winchcombe heading to the crease. However, no sooner had the former got to the wicket than he was on his way back after edging the 2nd ball of the innings. This brought the top league and cup run scorer to the crease and Tom Dye was soon on his merry way and, alongside Winchcombe, the 2 batsmen flayed the opening Northwood bowlers to the boundary regularly. The run rate slowed up as Harris and Simon Goldsmith replaced the opening bowlers, but they weren’t able to make any inroads as the 2 Newport batters looked solid in defence. Winchcombe was unfortunate to be given out lbw for 32 to the returning Nathan Goldsmith.
Skipper Gareth Bricknell came to the middle and supported Dye nicely with 19 until Northwood captain Ben Baker then brought himself on and, despite going for a few runs, did pick up 2 quick wickets of Bricknell and Ryan Young. This only brought another in-form Newport batsman to the crease however, and Adam Wilson soon got into his stride, striking 3 quick boundaries to seal an emphatic 6-wicket win with 13 overs to spare. Tom Dye finished his match-winning knock of 54 not out and later picked up the man of the match award.
After the final, winning skipper Gareth Bricknell said:
“It’s been an incredible season for the club both on and off the pitch. We started the season off boosted by two fantastic IOW businesses Wight Shipyard and Emerald Construction sponsoring our playing and training kit. I’ve been so lucky to captain such a great bunch of lads and winning the double in my first season as skipper has been a nice touch. However, the biggest boost for our club this season has been the move to call Newclose cricket ground our new home.”
