THE soothing sound of leather on willow could be heard again last Sunday as Ventnor continued their pre-season preparation with an inter-club friendly at their picturesque Steephill ground.
However, despite the positive atmosphere around the famous old Isle of Wight club, as they look forward to their first season in Division 2 of the Greene King IPA Southern Premier League, there was bad early news for the first team.
Ventnor were due to make a trip to ‘the cradle of cricket’ — Hambledon — in the first round of the Village Cup, the largest knock-out cricket competition in the UK, on Sunday.
But with Covid travel restrictions in place, they were unable to stump up the £500 cost of meeting the first round fixture.
Fiona Newnham, who manages the first team, was disappointed at having to forfeit the game.
She said: “It would have meant only one person per household in each car. Those are the rules at the moment. Unbelievable. Thank you Covid!”
Ventnor are scheduled to begin their opening league match against Fair Oak, at Steephill, on Saturday, May 1.
The league have successfully applied for an ECB grant, which has helped to fund their opening three away games, up to £400 per fixture.
“Thanks to the Southern League being proactive, we plan to play the opening games,” Fiona said.
“We don’t know if Fair Oak are going to play. We haven’t heard from them to say they are not, so we’ll wait and see.
“For our away games, we will have to cross The Solent as foot passengers, then hire a coach to take us to the ground and back.”
What the club is not sure about at the moment — and this also applies to Ryde and Shanklin cricket clubs — is whether or not the Hampshire League, due to start on May 8, will go ahead this season, with all the travelling involved to and from the Island, amid Covid travel restrictions.
However, the Steephill club remains positive ahead of the new season.
“The ground is looking good and we are about to start watering the square — something I thought we’d never have to do in April,” Fiona added.
“We’re looking optimistic. As far as adding new faces to the first team squad is concerned, watch this space. We don’t have anyone yet, but we have about two weeks yet for that to change.
“We hope to get our overseas player, Anthony Alleyne, from Barbados, in.”
Alleyne was due to arrive in time for the start of the 2020 season, until coronavirus halted the plans in their tracks.
“We have gone through the government to maintain our sponsorship licence and we have all the visas and the paperwork needed, so we are fairly optimistic of bringing him to Ventnor.
“It will be a real coup getting him here. It will be inspirational. He is a very good player and coach. He will be doing much youth cricket work.”
The first team will have a mix of youth and experience — including skipper Ben Woodhouse, Ross Whyte, Rob Snell and Chris Russell.
Chris has work commitments and will only be available for home games," said Fiona.
“We are confident we can maintain our position in Division 2 and seek to advance next year.
“We may do better this year, but we have to be realistic. It’s certainly going to be interesting.”
- In yesterday's (Friday) print edition of the County Press, we incorrectly stated Ben Attrill is this year's first team captain. It is, in fact, Ben Woodhouse. Apologies for the error.
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