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The 17th
Cheriton six-a-side tournament once again provided exciting
non-stop cricket on Bank Holiday Monday with over 1650 runs scored
in the 15 matches and 10 hours of non-stop action. It was
Islanders Ventnor who claimed the Flower Pots
Cup for only the second time with victory over fellow
Southern League outfit Fair Oak.
With just two teams
qualifying from each of the two highly competitive groups of four,
competition was fierce from the start. In the Green Group
holders Hambledon topped the table after wins against
debutants St Cross off the last ball,
Ropley by 3 runs and hostsTichborne
Park by only 1 wicket. They were joined in the
semi-finals by Ropley who went through by beating St Cross and
achieving a narrow 1 run win over the Park.
In the Gold Group
Fair Oak saw off Bishop’s Waltham
by 2 runs, edged ahead of Ventnor in a last ball
thriller village and finally ended hosts
Cheriton’s campaign in a one sided encounter,
to top the group. Ventnor made the
semis with two other wins in the tight group.
In the first
semi-final, Fair Oak scored 54 for 3 in their 5 overs, and
restricted Ropley to 39 for 4, while in the second semi Ventnor
beat Hambledon by only 3 runs after setting a target of 51 for
1.
The final proved to
be revenge for Ventnor who batting first made 73 for 2, with Shaun
Nowak retiring on a 7 ball 29 including 4 huge 6s. In reply the
Oaks were never in the hunt and made 35 all out with both Charlie
Freeston and Rob Snell capturing 2 wickets apiece, to win
handsomely by 38 runs and take the silverware for the first time
since 2001.
The large crowd had
enjoyed a great day’s cricket as well as the Flower Pots Inn
Beer Festival, BBQ and other refreshments throughout the
day.
The Complete
Property Best Batsman Award was won by Christian Portz of Ropley;
the Knight Frank Champagne Moment went to Matt Clay of Cheriton for
a fantastic diving save on the boundary – that sadly required
a casualty trip to sort out!; the Windwards Bananas Best Bowler
Award went to Matt Burrell of Fair Oak for his hat trick; and the
Portway Domestic Appliances Biggest 6 was won by Ed Green of St
Cross; and the Cheriton Computers Catch of the Day was won by
Rhidian Chapman of Hambledon for a superb low take in the deep
against Tichborne Park.
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1. Teams
