Bashley (Rydal) are through to the regional play-off stage of the ECB indoor sixes cricket championships after a five-wicket win over Island champions Ryde.
They chased down Ryde’s 125-3 with an over to spare to tee up a west region semi-final tie against Exeter University at Taunton on Sunday March 3.
Michael Porter (29), Phil Morris (29), Sam Kennett (25) and Brad Currie (23) were all unbeaten for Bashley.
Earlier, an unbeaten half-century by Dave Pratt (50), supported by Stu Robertson (25) underpinned the Ryde total.  Steve Wilson took 2-26.
If Bashley beat the Exeter students, they will face Cheltenham Civil Service or the winners of the Wiltshire group, which will be decided at the Pewsey Sports Centre on Sunday, when  Biddlestone, South Wilts or Swindon Indians lock horns in a round-robin affair.
The Hampshire indoor finals are at the Ageas Bowl this Saturday evening, initially at 6.30pm when holders Burridge defend their county crown against Sparsholt.
Hook & Newnham Basics play Waterlooville in the second semi-final at 7.40pm, with the winners contesting the 8.50pm final.
The Hampshire winners go to Canterbury on March 3 to face Ifield.

Vice-captain Andy Gorvin will not be returning to Havant when he finishes his university degree course in Cardiff this summer.
The all-rounder has joined ECB South Wales Premier League club St Fagan's and will play Sussex League Division One cricket for Chichester Priory Park when his university terms ends.
Gorvin joined Havant as a 15-year old and has scored over 2,700 runs in addition to taking some 115 wickets. 
There is also speculation that former Havant captain Ben Walker is on the move again. He switched to Totton & Eling for the 2018 SPL season, but suffered a serious early season Achilles injury playing for Dorset and did not play competitive cricket last summer. He has been linked with a move to a Premier Division club.

Hampshire all-rounder Ian Holland made up for lost time, hitting a century in his first Ringwood appearance for a month at Geelong in the Victorian Premiership.
Holland made a 14-boundary 103 (he hit 199 against Frankston Peninsular in early January) as Ringwood piled up a huge 373-8, with county team-mate Joe Weatherley making 42 in a 70-run opening partnership.
Lewis McManus continued his excellent new year form with a fourth half-century in five knocks for Camberwell Magpies, who chased down Melbourne University’s 284 to win by one wicket. 
Tom Scriven was also among the runs, making 59 as Broadbeach Robina beat Helensvale Pacific Pines (244-9) by four wickets.
Calmore Sports’ young left-hander Ben Johns, who made a century in Brighton’s last match against table topping Caulfield, has a chance to make another decent score next weekend.  He is 28 not out as Brighton (46-1) aim to overhaul the modest 145 posted by bottom of the South West sub-district log Taylors Lakes.
Raff Hussey, who has joined South Wilts from relegated New Milton, took 3-38 for Port Adelaide against Prospect in the West End Second Grade.
He’s had little opportunity to show his potential with the bat, but with Port Adelaide 57-5 overnight he might just get a big chance next Saturday !
Prospective Bemerton team-mate Luke Evans is working his way back to fitness after a hamstring injury and made 59 for Parkdale’s second grade team in Melbourne.
 

Hampshire League County Division 1 newcomers Sway will host Fawley in the opening round of the New Forest CA President’s T20 Cup on June 3.
Premier League new boys Hythe & Dibden get home advantage against Lymington, with New Milton (facing a stern opening test at Calmore Sports) hosting the final at Fernhill.
Cup draws:
President’s Cup first round (June 3): Calmore Sports v New Milton, Hythe & Dibden v Lymington, Sway v Fawley.  Bye: Bashley (Rydal).
Semi-finals (June 24): Bashley (Rydal) v Calmore Sports or New Milton, Hythe & Dibden or Lymington v Sway or Fawley.
Stone Cup first round (May 20): Hythe & Dibden II v Lymington II, Lyndhurst & Ashurst v Sway II.
Quarter-finals (June 10): Brockenhurst v New Milton III, Beaulieu v Pylewell Park, Fawley II v Burley, Hythe & Dibden II or Lymington III v Lyndhurst & Ashurst or Sway II.

Matt Metcalfe will captain Lymington in the ECB Southern Premier League this summer, taking over the armband from Simon Beetham, who quit last August.
One of only four bowlers to have taken over 500 SPL wickets, the 33-year old paceman will begin his sixth season with Lymington in the season’s curtain raiser at Havant on May 4.
Metcalfe, left, who joined Lymington after a spell at Bournemouth in 2013, is nine shy of a 200-wicket haul for the New Forest club, who finished second from bottom of the Premier Division in 2018.
The club will shortly announced their overseas recruit for 2019, a talented teenage South African sportsman.
Adrian Hunt will skipper the second team, who avoided relegation from SPL3 by the skin of its teeth in the final round of matches last season.
One familiar face missing from the Lymington scene this summer will be long-serving club stalwart Peter Tapper.
Newly elected President Neil Trestrail said: “As a club, we are extremely grateful to Peter for all the hard work, dedication and countless hours he put in over 36 years as a player and committee man and, for the past 17 years, as chairman. We all wish him well in his retirement.”
Indoor training has already begun at Walhampton School on Friday 8th February (7.30pm).
* Lymington have launched an ambitious five-year plan to increase participation in the sport and boost membership at all levels.
Newly-appointed chairman Jerry Holt is keen to see the club become more pro-active in the local community and is looking for a main sponsor to help achieve their aims.
Lymington, one of the oldest cricket clubs in the country, has strong links to local schools and businesses. The Club fields four Saturday sides, a women’s team and junior teams for U9 to U16 for boys and girls.
Mr Holt said: “At Lymington Sports Ground and Woodside, thanks to the help we receive from the Town Council, we have fantastic facilities for cricket and would like to see as many people as possible benefit from them.
“We are very fortunate to have thriving sections for men, women, boys and girls and want to see them grow even further.
“We have a team of dedicated and qualified coaches and offer opportunities for players of all ages and abilities to enjoy cricket.
“Participation and membership are two areas we are very keen to expand, and we want to spread the word throughout the town.
“People don’t need to be the next James Anderson or Charlotte Edwards to join us, we just want them to enjoy either playing or watching cricket at our two picturesque venues.
“We are working towards implementing a host of exciting initiatives and would welcome the support of a local business as our main club sponsor to help achieve our plans.”

Hampshire’s EPP squad flies to Durban tomorrow [Wednesday] evening for an eight-day pre-season camp at Hilton College, where they will train and play matches in the immaculate grounds of the famous South Africa public school.
The trip, via Dubai, has a cushioned start with a day at the South Africa-Sri Lanka Test at Kingsmead, after which the teenagers will start to sweat it out in the KZ Natal heat.  GCSE studies are not being overlooked, with everyone of the squad taking their text books on the trip.
Poole-based all-rounder Scott Currie misses the trip due to a back injury.

Former Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams, who helped St Cross Symondians win a maiden ECB Southern Premier League championship last summer, has been appointed as one of the county’s new Assistant Coaches, alongside Alfonso Thomas (ex-Somerset), who is essentially first team bowling coach.  
It is anticipated Adams will focus on the Hampshire Second XI, freeing current Head of Player Development, Charlie Freeston, to work solely with the Hampshire Academy.
The duo join First Team Manager, South African Adrian Birrell, as part of a new coaching set-up and will lead the Club’s pre-season preparations ahead of the commencement of the 2019 campaign in April. 

Bashley (Rydal) face a lengthy trek to Ventnor's Rew Valley Sports Centre to play Ryde in the ECB indoor sixes championship county play-off round on Sunday, 3.30pm.
The winners will go to Taunton on Sunday March 3 to play either Exeter University or Truro in the South West regional semi-finals.
In the other half of the SW draw, Cheltenham Civil Service lock horns with the Wiltshire winners, which will be decided at Pewsey on February 24 when South Wilts, Biddlestone and Swindon Asians go head-to-head in a round-robin tournament. 
Whoever wins the Hampshire county finals at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday February 23 will travel east to Canterbury on March 3.  The semi-final pairings are Burridge v Sparsholt (7), Hook & Newnham Basics v Waterlooville (8), with the county final following.
 

The MCC has announced that it has amended Law 41.7, the Law which concerns the bowling of dangerous and unfair non-pitching deliveries (beamers).
The Law published a little over twelve months ago imposed stricter penalties on a bowler who delivers a full toss over the batsman’s waist.
Since its introduction, feedback has been received which suggests strongly that the new sanctions were overly severe (especially to younger bowlers).
In response to this feedback, the Laws sub-committee has reviewed Law 41.7 and – with the support of the Cricket committee, World Cricket committee and MCC Committee – agreed that it should be adjusted, with effect from 1st April 2019, to allow umpires to make a more subjective decision over which deliveries are dangerous.
This and other minor clarifications and corrections from the 1st Edition will also be incorporated into the 2nd Edition.

It’s a freezing day on the south coast and, in keeping with the February weather, Mason Crane is kitted out in coat and beanie, despite sitting inside the atrium of Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl pavilion.
“There’s no heating in the indoor school,” he says. “Everyone is in snoods, hats, you name it. You go in there in the morning and it’s like an ice box.”
It’s not the first time in the past 12 months that the England leg-spinner has been left out in the cold.
Since making his debut against Australia in the final Test of the Ashes in Sydney – becoming the youngest specialist spinner to play for England since 1928 in the process - Crane has endured the kind of year that can make or break you as a sportsperson.
As he sits down to talk through his experience, though, it’s clear that his injury problems have done the former rather than the latter.
Crane began bowling again in December, the first time he had sent a ball down in anger in over six months, after a stress fracture of the back first ruled him out of England’s tour of New Zealand in March and then brought a premature end to his county season in early June.
“It’s the longest I’ve been without bowling,” he says. “I’ve never gone more than 10 before. You definitely don’t lose it. After five or 10 minutes it just feels completely normal again. I can only bowl a certain amount of overs for the first bit (of his recovery) but you just want to carry on.  I guess I’m going to have to be patient.”
Biding his time is something that Crane has had to do since that Ashes bow. He took 1 for 193 at the SCG, figures that hardly to do justice to just how threatening he looked as the Aussie racked up an eye-watering 649 for seven.
Unsurprisingly, it was the only innings they required to win the match as England’s batting crumbled second time around.
Handed his Test cap by Graeme Swann on the outfield of one of world cricket’s most iconic grounds, Crane's bowling - rather than his eventual figures - won him a host of admirers, Shane Warne among them.
“He’s very aggressive,” said the former Aussie leggie. “He is feisty, looks to get into the batsman’s space. He won’t back down from the challenge."
Crane had in fact made his Sheffield Shield debut at an earlier age than Warne, becoming the first overseas player to play for New South Wales since Imran Khan in 1985, when he ran out for the state in March 2017.
That, in part, contributed to his selection for an Ashes series that most would rather forget. For the wide-eyed Crane, however, it’s something that will stay with him forever.
                                                                                               In tears
“I loved it,” he says. “It was really tough but I loved every minute of it. Obviously we lost 4-0 but there were moments there, things I learnt, that you’ll never get elsewhere. It was just amazing.
 “When Cookie got his hundred in Melbourne – that’s probably my favourite moment in a cricket dressing room, and I wasn’t even playing. We were all in tears, it was unbelievable.
“It didn’t quite dawn on me how huge it was until it all started. It all got going at Brisbane and it was like ‘wow, it doesn’t get bigger than this’. Every city we went to was like a circus. But that’s the thing for me – that’s the hardest cricket is ever going to be. You’re under the microscope, you can’t even go out for dinner.
“How do you go out for dinner with Stuart Broad? He’s 6’7”, he gets noticed everywhere. But if that’s as hard as it gets I’ve got great confidence that I can live with it because I came through the other side.”
The main problem Crane has as he looks to remind England of just what he’s capable of is ensuring that he’s on the park and bowling enough overs to take the wickets he needs to get back in contention.
The main problem Crane has as he looks to remind England of just what he’s capable of is ensuring that he’s on the park and bowling enough overs to take the wickets he needs to get back in contention.
Despite taking 15 wickets for his county in 50 over cricket last season, Crane last played a match in the County Championship in September 2017.
                                                                                                   Lopsided
Since making his First Class debut in July 2015, he has never played a match for his county in April, which given the lopsided nature of four-day cricket scheduling means he has effectively missed almost as much as a third of the Championship season before bowling a ball in anger.
“For me, I want to make it non-negotiable that I’m playing,” he says.
“That’s the thing as a spinner in England, though, you can be in the international team one week and then not playing for your county side the next. I want to show that I’m better than anybody else and that I can take wickets at any time of the year on any surface. Turning up and knowing your playing every game. That’s the dream."
Time, of course, is on his side, with Crane not turning 22 until next month. That said, he baulks at the suggestion that spin bowlers inevitably get better with age. 
 “I’m not going to suddenly wake-up on my 28th birthday and suddenly be a much better bowler,” he jokes.
“Who knows, this could be as good as I get or might get a lot better, you just don’t know do you.”
As we finish our conversation, the shutters come down on the deserted bar behind our seats – a clear signal that dry January is being taken seriously in these parts.
If Crane returns fit and firing this summer, though, it’s unlikely that last orders will be called on his England career anytime soon. His is a glass that’s definitely half-full, rather than half-empty.
* Article reproduced by kind permission of The Independent [Richard Edwards]

New Milton teenager Raff Hussey will join ECB Southern Premier League club South Wilts when he returns from a cricketing gap year winter in Australia next month.
The 18-year old has spent the past five months at Darren Lehmann high performance Cricket Academy in Adelaide and understandably wants to play the best standard possible this summer.
“It’s a wrench leaving New Milton, where I’ve playing since I was six years of age, but my aim when I went to the Cricket Academy was to improve my game mentally, physically and tactically to become a better all-round player,” he explained.
“A winter abroad has hopefully been great for character building and it’s important now I move on, continue to play Premier Division cricket and on the best surfaces against the best players.”
Alongside Tom Arnold, who has also announced his intention to leave the Fernhill club, Hussey was New Milton’s stand out player in a miserable 2018 relegation season for the Green & Golds.
He made 357 runs, with top scores against Havant (70), champions St Cross Symondians (66) and runners-up Burridge (55).
South Wilts didn’t waste any time securing Hussey’s signature when he contacted them.
“Raff batted well against us in a low scoring game at New Milton last summer,” recalled Tom Morton, South Wilts’ player/coach.
“He has a good attitude and is keen to progress. We have a good record of progressing young players so it should be a good fit.
“He made contact with us whilst playing in Adelaide. I’ve been keeping an eye on his progress and I am sure he is having a great experience.
“It’s an exciting time for South Wilts with many developing players in their early 20’s. We still have plenty of work to do to be as strong as we would like to be, but with the commitment we have had from the players over the last five or six years we are confident their is plenty of opportunity for growth.”
                                                                                 Hard yards
Hussey says it’s been a demanding winter at Lehmann’s Academy, not only physically but also mentally.
He explained: “Day to day I’ll spend normally three hours training in the morning with the academy, usually split up into either a net for two hours and gym or conditioning - which amounts to horrible sweaty running- or a shorter net so we can do fielding sessions.
“We’ve been doing the hard yards with our Strength & Conditioning coach, doing running in the blistering heat, a lot of it on the beach.  Believe me I sleep well at nights!”
That’s in addition to club training with his adopted West End Premiership club Port Adelaide, where Hussey trains twice weekly, on top of playing matches, often on both days over a weekend in sweltering hot conditions.
The South Wilts bound batsman hasn’t been given much opportunity to show off his batting skills playing Second Grade for Port Adelaide.
“I’ve been batting low down at nine and ten, so the only time I get a hit is at the end of the innings – but I have enhanced my bowling skills and have taken seven wickets, three in one game,” he smiled.
“I never got to bowl much for New Milton, but it’s another string to my bow when I join South Wilts in the summer.”
Hussey left Arnewood School with glowing A* A-levels and begins a three-year Sport & Exercise Science course at Loughborough University this autumn.
He will spend another seven weeks in South Australia before flying home, linking up with the Salisbury club when they begin their early season friendly matches in mid-April.
“Joining South Wilts gives me the incentive to give Wiltshire a crack too.  I want to have a good season to put myself in the showcase for Loughborough MCCU next year, but that’s a long way off yet and I need to make my mark at Bemerton before getting too far ahead of myself.”

T20 Cup final hero Josh Buckingham is to lead Hook & Newnham Basics in Southern Premier League Division 1 this summer.
The 28-year old batsman/wicketkeeper, who hit the Hook Army to a shock T20 Cup final victory over South Wilts at the tail end of last season, succeeds Matt Love, who has taken by a teaching appointment in London, but hopes to continue playing for the North Hampshire.  Hook's season opener is at Calmore Sports on May 4.
Buckingham, who joined the Hook set as a seven-year old, smashed a match winning 84 off 40 balls in last year’s T20 final under the Ageas Bowl floodlights.
It set Hook up for a place in this season’s ECB T20 competition and an away day in Surrey next August.
A PE teacher at Crestwood School, Eastleigh, Josh has twice battled back after knee surgery in recent seasons. He is one of four current playing members of the cricketing Buckingham family which has a long association with Hook & Newnham Basics. Younger brother Matt is a middle-order batsman (who plundered 80 in the 2018 Guy Jewell Cup final). Uncles Graham and Simon are significant players in the club’s Hampshire League teams.
Kevin Light continues to skipper Hook’s County Division 1 side, while Vinny Gardner (now effectively the club’s Director of Cricket) will take charge of the thirds and Tony Robson the 4th XI.

Portsmouth’s Fraser Hay could be on the brink of a Big Bash League call-up by the Perth Scorchers after hitting a career best 135 for his Grade club Melville in the WACA pennant and then scoring an unbeaten 51 to help his side become Western Australia T20 champions.
Hay will train with the Scorchers side tomorrow and could make his BBL debut against the Adelaide Strikers at the Adelaide Oval at the weekend.
His 135 in Melville’s first innings win against Joondalup in the WACA Grade competition, which contained 18 fours, climaxed some good post-Christmas form by Hay, who is set to return for a third Southsea summer in April.  It was his fourth Perth A-Grade ton.
The icing on the cake came at the WACA 24 hours later when Melville, whose side also included former SPL quartet Luke Towers, Sean Terry, Drew Porter and Ryan Duffield, crushed Subiaco-Floreat by seven wickets to become state T20 champions.
Subiaco’s 141-7 was simply blown away as the clean hitting Hay, with a blistering 51 off 25 balls, including two maximums and five fours, and Terry (44 not out) powered Melville home with 18 balls to spare !  Melville’s reward is a trip to Adelaide for the State T20 championships – worth a mere A$50,000 to the winners !










 

The Hampshire Cricket Board is inviting club chairmen and welfare officers to participate in their second annual Safeguarding Forum in the Shaun Udal Suite at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday 14th March 2019, between 6.30-9pm, prior to which a complimentary buffet will be served.
Where clubs do not have a trained welfare officer, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) advises that legal responsibility lies with club executive officers so this invitation is relevant to all chairs of clubs with junior members (i.e. aged under-18 years as at 31 August 2018).
The aim of the forum is to provide additional support for club welfare officers and share the latest developments on safeguarding in cricket direct from ECB. 
Jenni Douglas-Todd (director Hampshire Cricket Board, member ECB Regulatory Committee), ECB Safeguarding staff and the County Welfare Officer will provide advice and guidance in this important aspect of club management. 
BOOKING LINK: https://goo.gl/forms/PUIOgCWW7fP5vsxI3
Please do not hesitate to contact Cricket Development Manager Simon Jones – simon.jones@ageasbowl.com and/or 023 8047 5653 / 07920 452537 - for further information or in the event of any query.

Bournemouth University are through to this weekend’s BUCS Indoor Cricket Trophy Super Eights finals in Leicester.
Beaten only once (by Portsmouth) in their seven pre-Christmas qualifying group matches at Eastleigh’s Fleming Park, the Bournemouth students confidently brushed aside Exeter, Essex and Hertfordshire to claim a trip to the East Midlands.
Now they must extend that winning sequence against Chichester, Manchester and Worcester universities to earn a place in the semi-finals.
The other four universities involved are De Montfort, East Anglia, Hertfordshire and Royal Holloway.
Bashley (Rydal) trio Brad Currie, Dan Goodey and Sam Kennett, along with Basingstoke & North Hants spin all-rounder Ash Neal were in the Bournemouth squad which emerged victorious in East London.
Goodey, the Devon Minor Counties pace bowler, was prominent, taking three wickets as Exeter were whipped out for a meagre 60 in the opening match, which Bournemouth won by four wickets with time to spare.
Left-armer Currie, fresh from penning a kit sponsorship deal with new Gloucestershire equipment suppliers BTC Cricket (see below), produced the stand-out individual bowling figures as Bournemouth restricted Essex to 83 off their ten overs in match two.
George Denham and Jo Jenkins did the initial spadework before Kennett (23), BU’s outdoor captain this summer, guided Bournemouth home.
Bournemouth completed a clean sweep with an equally convincing win over previously unbeaten Hertfordshire in their final qualifying match, Goodey (2-14) and Currie (1-16) being well supported by Ollie Hills, with three tight overs.
Neal (25 retired) and Jordy Watts (21 not out), in his third unbeaten innings, steered Bournemouth home.
* Up and coming young cricketers interested in attracting a sponsorship deal from BTC Cricket should link to www.btccricket.co.uk/sponsorship for further details. 



 

New Zealander Matt Bacon, 25, is set to be Alton's overseas player in ECB Southern Premier League cricket this summer. 
A pace bowler, he has taken 51 wickets for Otago Volts in Plunkett Shield, List A and T20 cricket.
The Brewers are also boosted by the return of spin bowler Jack Myers, who spent last season playing Surrey Championship cricket with Dorking, taking 22 wickets and helping the club finish third in the log.

Hook & Newnham Basics require a pre-season warm-up match on Saturday April 27, preferably away from home.  SPL or Thames Valley League clubs interested should contact Vince Gardner @  VincentGardner@finchgroup.net
* Clubs are welcome to use this website for fixture requests: mike.vimpany@btinternet.com

Calmore Sports’ young left-hander Ben Johns celebrated his maiden century in Australian sub-district cricket when he made a chanceless 105 for his adopted Melbourne club, Brighton on the opening day of the VSDCA visit to Caufield.
Strong all around the wicket, the 23-year old (who has three Southern Premier League centuries to his name) cracked 105 to lead Brighton to 245-9, hitting 13 fours in energy depleting conditions.
A booming drive wide of mid-off brought up his half-century. He carried on to his maiden VSDCA century in his eighth match for Brighton, sharing a handy partnership late in the innings with St Cross Symondians all-rounder Jack Bransgrove (23).  The match resumes next Saturday.
Across the Tasman Sea and Havant’s Harry Gadd was celebrating too – 101 for his New Zealand club Queenstown Ballarat (304-5) against Maniototo in Otago’s 40-over Koford Cup.  He made 53 in a midweek T20 earlier in the week and prised out two Maniototo batsmen with his off-spin variation.

Chamika Karunaratne, who played Southern Premier League cricket for Andover in 2017, took a wicket in his first over on his Test debut for Sri Lanka against Australia in Canberra this weekend.
Queensland’s Marnus Labuschagne, who made 81 in the first Test, was undone by an excellent ball from Karunaratne that nibbled and nipped off the seam just enough to catch the edge.
But that was as good as it got for Karunaratne and Sri Lanka who, whittled bare to the bone by injuries, suffered a torrid first day in the field, dropping catches as a triple century partnership between Joe Burns (180) and Ventnor’s 2013 overseas left-hander Travis Head, with a maiden 161, powered Australia towards an eventual 534-5 and a massive 366-run victory.
Karunaratne, who scored 450 runs and took 16 wickets for Andover two summers ago, went for 130 of his 22 overs and made up for a first innings duck by making 22 in Sri Lanka’s second dig.   He had been playing for Sri Lanka A and club cricket for Nondescripts before his surprise call-up to join the beleaguered Test party.
His solitary wicket, a catch to keeper Niroshan Dickwella, had a bizarre twist. His victim, Marnus Labuschagne, was an overseas player for Plymouth during Matt Hooper’s time with the West Country club, so the Andover skipper has actually captained both players at one stage of their career!

The Hampshire indoor cricket championship play-offs are at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday evening February 23 2019 between 7 and 10pm, with defending champions Burridge, Sparsholt and Waterlooville among the known semi-finalists.
The county winners will go through to the ECB regional play-offs at Canterbury on March 3.
As winners of the Dorset indoor league, Bashley (Rydal) will sail to the Isle of Wight on February 17 for the right to join the Wiltshire county champions at Taunton.
The Lord’s final is on Sunday March 31.

Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl is to host two of Australia’s ICC World Cup warm-up matches over the May bank holiday weekend.  They play England on Saturday May 25 and Sri Lanka on the bank holiday Monday. Ticket details will be released in due course.

The Minor Counties, whose ranks include Dorset and Wiltshire, and who play games at Bashley (Rydal), Bournemouth and South Wilts, are to change their name to the National Counties Cricket Association in 2020.
There will be slightly less three-day cricket, but there will be automatic promotion and relegation within the current Western and Eastern Divisions.  The 10-team divisions will split to two groups of five in a series of changes to the county game at its second tier.
It will also mean a drop in three-day matches from six to four per season, while offering an increase in Twenty20 games.
The main changes -
• Automatic promotion and relegation in the Minor Counties Championship.
• Two five-team groups in both Western and Eastern Divisions.
• The fifth county in each regional First Division to be relegated and replaced by the respective Division Two winners.
• A reduction from six three-day games per season to four games.
• The MCCA final would now be between the Division One East and Division One West winners.
• An increase in the number of matches in the 50-over Minor Counties Trophy, by reverting from a straight knockout tournament to the old group format with quarter-finals and semi-finals. Counties would be guaranteed at least two home 50-over matches.
• The Minor Counties T20, which was successfully re-introduced in 2018, would be retained with four groups of five - different ones to the Trophy - with the group winners progressing straight to Finals Day.
• The three Minor Counties competitions are expected to be played in blocks throughout the season. It has been proposed that the Trophy would be at the start of the season, followed by the T20 in the middle, then the three-day competition at the end.

Long time rival and renowned Ventnor cricketer Jeff Hose has led the tributes to Shanklin’s Dave Porter, who will play his final innings next Thursday (February 7), having died suddenly while on holiday in Tenerife last month. He was aged 71.
Mr Porter, a long term partner in the well established Whitehouse-Porter estate agency business in Sandown, was one of the island’s best known cricketers.
He made over 30,000 runs for the Westhill club and represented the Isle of Wight, many times as captain, throughout his long and successful career.
The Shanklin-Ventnor derbies were undoubtedly the highlight of the island cricket calendar before the coming of league cricket and Hose and Porter locked horns for summers on end.  
Reflecting on those fiercely fought derby games, Hose said: “Hand on heart I can’t ever remember a word in anger with Dave, but that said and without a shadow of doubt he was the player in the Shanklin side that we all wanted out.
“He could simply change the course of a game in a matter of just a few overs. Until his wicket fell you could never rest easy ! 
“Dave was simply a very powerful left-hand batsman who could even dispatch a good ball to the boundary - which he did with distain to good balls in many of my overs.
“But what we had on our side at Ventnor was ‘the rug’
“I’m not so sure that David was a huge fan of the Steephill artificial pitch as Ventnor had a reasonable and pretty good front line pace attack at that time !
“After a game the battles were all forgotten about with a swift half or two in the bar.
“Every club needs a David Porter in their club. He was just immense in more ways than one and a true Legend of Shanklin cricket.
“I really can’t believe that I won’t see David around anymore but we will always remember the fun we had on the field of play.”
                                                                                ‘Burly left-hander’
Dave Porter had joined Shanklin after a highly promising upbringing at Westover, where the seeds of a successful cricket career (also as a slow left-arm bowler) were sown at just 12 years of age.
He soon became a regular member of the successful Westover team - the start of a career for the ‘burly left hander’ which lasted for 45 years or so.
It wasn’t long after that – Dave was just 16 years of age – when he made the first of the many centuries he was to score in his career. The knock earned Dave his first call up to play for the Island Villages XI
In his mid-20’s Dave was persuaded to join Shanklin, where he remained a member for over 40 years.
During that time he became the club’s leading all-time run scorer, amassing over 30,000 runs. He also played for and captained the Island representative team on numerous occasions.
At Carisbrooke Grammar School, Dave had excelled at all sports and he represented the Island Schools at cricket, and football, being a very competent goalkeeper.
It was whilst Dave was still at school he was introduced to Newport FC at Church Litten, signed and made his debut for them at just 15 years old – one of the youngest people to start his football career at the club.
                                                                                    Saints trials
He was spotted by Southampton, who invited him across for a trial and, along with another Island player, the late Chris Cheverton, went on to make a number of appearances for the Saints Youth Team, playing alongside Dell legend and later England international Mike Channon.
Dave also played some reserve team games with Swindon Town, in a side containing Ernie Hunt, Mike Summerbee and Dan Rogers, but then manager Bert Head told him he was too small to make the grade !
Football wasn’t a future Dave wanted and he gave up the sport for two years before he joined Brighstone as a centre forward.  From goalkeeper to goal scorer ! He later went on to play for a number of local clubs, including Yarmouth and Shanklin.
Dave Porter was undoubtedly a very successful businesses man on the Island, but to the many people who knew him he will be remembered as a sportsman, and a legend of Island cricket.
At Shanklin, he also ran the colts section and was an ever present committee member and chairman of the club.
After retiring from playing cricket Dave spent a number of years supporting his stepson David Griffiths to progress through the Hampshire Academy and England Under-19 team and in watching him play for both Hampshire and Kent.    He also enjoyed gardening and sea fishing.
More recently he became a fully qualified cricket umpire and enjoyed driving the minibus for the Shanklin team and umpiring their Hampshire League matches.
Dave is survived by his wife Libby, his three children Debbie, Matt and Nyree, plus his stepchildren David and Emma Griffiths.
There will be a celebration of Dave Porter’s life at St Paul’s Church, Regent Street, Shanklin on Thursday (February 7) at 1pm.
“Just as Dave was so bright in so many lives, we would ask all men to wear brightly coloured ties in his honour,” said cricketing brother Brian.       MV