Ventnor suffered their 2nd defeat of the 2022 season, losing by 7 wickets to North Hampshire side Alton on Saturday (4th June).
Ventnor lost the toss and were put into bat. Both openers lost their wickets cheaply: Namish Verma scoring a single before being caught off the bowling of Walters and Rob Snell making 6 runs before being dismissed from a catch off the bowling of Appavoo.
Sri Lankan professional Dineth Thimodya then came to the crease and scored an unbeaten century off 111 balls, including 5 4s and 5 6s. Dineth was assisted by the batting of Ross Whyte, who made a knock of 31 before falling lbw to Scott Myers, and Sam Mills who scored 23 before being caught lbw off the bowling of Appavoo.
Ventnor were unable to find a batsman to successfully partner Thimodya. Captain Ben Woodhouse was dismissed lbw for a duck and Charlie Calloway could only manage a single. Will Mew provided some Ventnor resistance at the end of their innings, scoring an unbeaten 13 off 12 balls.
Ventnor innings: 210/8 (50 overs)
Alton reached their target of 211 runs with 16 overs to spare after the loss of just 3 wickets.
Abhay Gonella was the 1st Alton wicket to fall, caught by wicket keeper Woodhouse off the bowling of Mew for 8 runs. His opening partner Huw Wheeler was the 2nd Alton batsman to be dismissed, caught by Thimodya off the bowling of Calloway for 22. However, opener Daniel Harris was still at the crease, scoring 80 runs off just 60 deliveries before being clean bowled by Thimodya.
A 76-run partnership between Alton captain Scott Myers (59 runs) and Michael Heffernan (28 runs) than saw Alton surpass the Ventnor total with ease.
Result: Alton 211/3 Ventnor 210/8 Ventnor lost by 7 wickets
Ventnor’s defeat leaves them in 2nd place in the Southern Premier Division 1 table with 78 points from 5 games, 4 points behind leaders Rowledge.
Michael Heffernan you meant.